


The Perks of Being an American Fangirl

by nerdettedrabbles



Series: April and the Doctor [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Doctor Who (2005), Sherlock (TV), Sleepy Hollow (TV), Supernatural, Warehouse 13
Genre: Doctor Who Fiftieth Spoilers, Gen, Just the Doctor and a Fangirl, Post 50th Doctor Who, Random Adventures, Random as Fuck, Shit ton of Universes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-30
Updated: 2013-12-06
Packaged: 2018-01-03 00:31:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 23,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1063534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdettedrabbles/pseuds/nerdettedrabbles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At first April thought the TV was still on when she heard the familiar whirring and wheezing sound. But the TV was still off.</p>
<p>April looked around in complete and utter shock. There was only one thing in the universe that she know of that made that sound, but seeing as it came from a fiction TV show, one she obsessed over and would talk about for hours on end, much to the annoyance of her friends and family, she just couldn't see how the thing that made the sound was coming here into her living room.</p>
<p>Until, of course, the TARDIS materialized in the middle of her living room.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Fangirls Have Surprising Abilities to Adapt to Shock

**Author's Note:**

> Ok this is just the randomest idea I have ever had and I'm just seeing where it goes.

April yawned. It was probably the most boring night of her life. She stared blankly at her laptop screen, an essay due tomorrow for English yet unfinished, an unsurprising fact seeing as it was an essay analyzing probably the most boring book she had ever read. The weather wasn't helping much. Northern California's usual fog stretched down the street.

April sat back and gave the essay up as a bad job. It didn't really matter. Her English grade was high enough that not turning in this essay would't send it crashing to the ground.

She clicked on the TV and flicked through the channels half-heartedly, entirely unsurprised to see nothing good on.

She had turned off the TV and was on the point of going to brush her teeth when April's dull, uneventfull night suddenly got very,  _very_ interesting.

At first April thought the TV was still on when she heard the familiar whirring and wheezing sound. But the TV was still off.

April looked around in complete and utter shock. There was only one thing in the universe that she know of that made that sound, but seeing as it came from a fiction TV show, one she obsessed over and would talk about for hours on end, much to the annoyance of her friends and family, she just couldn't see how the thing that made the sound was coming here into her living room.

Until, of course, the TARDIS materialized in the middle of her living room.

April was just staring. This was not happening. There was absolutely no way. As much as she adored the show, there was absolutely no way that the Doctor and the TARDIS existed outside of  _Doctor Who._

She was in the process of pinching herself, sort of hiding behind the couch, when the door of the TARDIS opened, and out stepped the man himself, the Doctor.

He was looking as adorable as ever(April's other Whovian friends taunted her for thinking Matt Smith was adorable and not ridiculously sexy) in his bowtie, coat, and suspenders. His hair, as ever, was falling into his face a little. He looked around April's living room with apparent interest before he spotted April behind the couch. He gave an enthusiastic wave.

"Oh, hello there!" the Doctor said. "Sorry about the box. She has a bit of a temper, you see. I think I made her upset, so she just started up and dropped me off here. I hope I didn't cause any trouble?"

April was starting to get over her shock. She stood up slightly and pinched herself again. It hurt.

The Doctor continued talking as if nothing could have stopped him. "Oh, but listen to me, going on about the old girl here as if you have any idea what it is exactly she can do. You're probably wondering exactly how I ended up in this living room with this here police box." He gave the TARDIS an affectionate pat. "Well, let me tell you first that this here-"

"Is the TARDIS, which stands for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. It's a time-travelling police box, though if it wasn't for the busted Chameleon Circuit, it could transform to be completely disguised," April ran off, adding after a pause. "It's also bigger on the inside."

The Doctor froze, hand in the air, where he had been gesturing grandly at the TARDIS, though he now looked shocked and very confused. "How..."

April brought up her shoulders and gave a weak half smile. "I watch your show a lot."

The Doctor looked even more puzzled, which scrunched his face up quite adorably.(yes, the author has a crush on Eleven and finds him utterly adorable but hush, that is not important right now) "But... there's... my show?"

April shrugged again. "Yeah... you might be  out of touch with popular TV shows a bit, because yours is a big one."

The Doctor hand drooped. "What year is it?"

"2013."

"And what country is this?"

"The US."

"Oh." The Doctor began pacing. "And did you see the Titanic over Britian a few years ago? Round 2008, I think?"

April shook her head. "Nope, sorry. Though I must say that was a pretty good episode. I cracked up when you asked them to take you to their leader."

The Doctor got a rather blank look. He seemed to be caught completely off guard, though his mind was probably whirling a mile a minute, processing all the information April had just given him with his rather extensive mental database.

A thought suddenly occured to April. "Wait a minute, if you actually exist, and you've been through stuff, and none of that stuff happened... does that mean that we're from different universes?"

The Doctor looked impressed. "Well, that is most certainly a posibility, though I'm fairly certain that the TARDIS still works, which would be odd, since-"

"The TARDIS runs off a certain kind of energy you thought only existed in your universe, which is a good assumption to make, since the last time you hopped universes, the TARDIS almost got you stuck since it was cut off from Rift energy, but maybe that means that our two universes are almost identical, with the exception of the lack of alien activity." April was on a role, and was having one of her nerdy moments her family and friends would make fun of her for. "But even if our universes are almost identical, there's no explanation to how the TARDIS could get here, since she's strictly stuck to travelling around in your universe." April began pacing at this point, really feeling herself getting into a groove. "So, now I'm wondering how the TARDIS wound up here. I mean, she could have just done something wierd and timey-wimey, I mean you did just say you thought you insulted her, so that would explain  _why_ you ended up in this universe, but not  _how_. And that how could be really scary. I mean, for all we know, there are cracks in the universes again, and the TARDIS used one of them to end up here, Or it could be something innocent, like maybe a spot where the dimensional gap between our universesis pretty much nonexistent." April looked up at the Doctor. "Well? What do you think?"

The Doctor looked dumbfounded. He was either really impressed with April's deductive abilities, annoyed at having his speech stolen, or really concerned about the issue. "Well, I must say... that was brilliant, absolutely brilliant!" The Doctor's face split into a wide grin. "You are quite brilliant! I must say, you'd have to be very clever to work that out." He began his own pacing. "And I must say, I quite agree with your statements. It could be that the TARDIS found a weak spot between the dimensions, or it could be something bad." His fingers started their usual wiggly dance. "I'm more inclined to believe that it's just a weak spot, though there's really only one way to be certain." He stopped abrubtly, turning to face the TARDIS. "We'll just have to have to have a look-see at the readings I'm sure the TARDIS is picking up." With that he turned and walked into the TARDIS, closing the door behind him, and almost immediately vanishing.

April stood behind her living room couch, staring at the spot the Doctor and the TARDIS had just occupied. She stood there for quite a while, hardly believing the man she had come to admire so much from one of her favorite TV shows would just whisk offso suddenly, without so much as a goodbye. She sighed, then sat to wait and see if he would come back on her living room couch. The similarity to Amelia Pond was not lost on her, though granted she was not a small child and the Doctor had made no promises. All April had was a hope and the rather annoying thought that the Doctor hadn't bothered to ask her name.

~~

April was distracted for months. Her friends noticed and asked about it, but for obvious reasons, April wasnt up to telling her friends, even the ones that watched  _Doctor Who_ , that the actual Mad Man in a Blue Box had popped into her living room and paused for a chat about cross-universe travelling before abrubtly leaving. She didn't talk about it, but April hardly spent a moment not thinking about it.

It was during one of these thinking sessions on the couch, accompanied by a cup of hot chocolate,  and  _The Angels Take Manhattan_ , that the Doctor once more came into April Lilligan's living room in the TARDIS.

He stepped out of the box rather grandly and looked around April's living room again, seeming surprised to find her sitting on the couch in different clothes and with a cup of cocoa. He nevertheless burst into a grin and adjusted his bowtie.

"Ah, there you are! Sorry about popping off for a couple hours, needed to see how well time travel worked in this universe!" He paused and patted the TARDIS. "The old girl works like a charm! Took me to see the Elizabeth the First! Rather nice, actually, to not have that woman threaten me with death." He chuckled, then turned to look at April and saw the look on her face. He stopped smiling. "It's been more that a few hours, hasn't it?"

April shook her head. "Try about ten months."

The Doctor's eyes popped out. "Ten- ten months?" He turned and looked at the TARDIS. "You made the clever girl wait ten months? You should be ashamed of yourself!" He turned back to April. "I swear I thought I was only going to be gone at most an hour. I mean, I didn't even ask for your name!"

That was when he turned around and saw what was on TV. April had paused it when she heard the unmistakeable sound of the TARDIS approaching. The screen was now frozen on Amy and Rory falling off the hotel roof in an attempt to create a paradox and kill all the Weeping Angels in New York.

April hesitated, not sure whether the look on the Doctor's face meant she should turn off the TV or do nothing. She was relieved from making a decision by the Doctor clearing his throat and examining the image more closely. "So they really did turn this into a TV show!" He shrugged before turning to April. "Anyways, what  _is_ your name, Clever Girl?"

April blushed a little at the compliment. "April Milligan."

"April Milligam," the Doctor said. Then he nodded. "Nice name. Sounds like the kind of girl that goes looking for adventures to relieve the horribly boring mundane life you lead." He grinned before whipping out the sonic screwdriver and sonicking the air around him. April sat up and shifted under the blanket.

"What are you checking for?" she asked. Had she been a "normal" person, she would have asked the Doctor just what the hell he thought he was doing, but experience(and seven seasons of watching the Doctor work) taught her that it might actually be a little worrisome when he started apparently sonicing for nothing.

The Doctor looked up from his sonicing. "Oh, you're a clever girl, try and work it out," he said with his quirky half-smile.

April sighed and stood up, finding pacing helped her think. "Hmm... let's see..." She was vaguely aware that the Doctor had extended the sonic and looked at it before turning his startlingly-green eyes on her. Funny, before now, she'd never really thought about what color the Doctor's eyes were. She shook her head.

"Well, I'm going to assume it has something to do with the fact that you're outside your own universe." She looked at the Doctor and saw him nod encouragingly before gesturing at her to continue. "Well... the TARDIS brought you here for a reason, one we aren't quite sure of. But maybe she only intended to take you to this universe, not to this place specifically, so..." She looked up from her pacing. "Are you checking to see if there's anything different about my living room? Like a weak point in the Void?"

The Doctor brought his hands together. "Bravo, you clever little thing," he said with a smile. "That is indeed what I'm doing!" He looked around. "Although there doesn't appear to be anything different about your living room, so you won't have to worry about the occational lost time traveller wandering lost into your sitting room."

April laughed. That was one of the things she loved most about the show. No matter what, the Doctor could always turn a serious situation into something to laugh at.

"Right!" he burst out suddenly, turning back to the TARDIS with a flourish. He hopped in and closed the door again. April just stared, her good mood evaporated, waiting with a slight wince for the blue box to start whirring and vanish again from her life, maybe this time forever, though April knew she would always be waiting for her Doctor to come back to her.

What she was not expacting, however, was for the Doctor to pop his head around the edge of the door and look quizzically at her. "April, what are you doing out there?" he asked, looking as though April had disappointed him. "Don't you want to come inside?"

April just stared, hardly daring to believe what she was hearing. "You mean you want me to come inside?"

The Doctor looked a little worried. "Well, I thought maybe you'd want to see the inside not on a TV screen."

April just stood there, trying to take in what she was hearing. The Doctor bit his lip. "You know what, you don't have to, I'll just... you know-"

April didn't give him a chance to finish his sentence. She started jumping around, screaming like the fangirl she really was. "OHMYGODOHMYGODNOWAY!!!" She ran over to the Doctor and wrapped him in the tightest hug she was capable of giving, which was fairly strong, despite how small she was. "Of course I wanna see the inside!" She dashed around the Doctor and into the TARDIS. She stopped moving almost at once.

"She's a looker, isn't she?" the Doctor said, pausing next to April, who couldn't help but to agree. It was one thing to see the inside of the TARDIS on TV, quite another to be actually standing inside it. She couldn't contain the impulse to walk outside the TARDIS, just to allow her brain to attempt to grasp a fact she had to learn anew, that the TARDIS was, in fact, bigger on the inside. Once she got back inside, she saw the Doctor giving his adorablelittle half-grin, his hands in his pocket. "I wouldn't have thought a clever girl like you would need to do that. You already seem to know an extraordinary amount about both me and the old girl."

"It's one thing to see it on TV, something  _completely_ different to actually be standing inside a box that's bigger on the inside," April said, her face split in the largest grin she's had in a while.

"Excellent!" The Doctor jumped into action, heading straight for the control pannel, playing around with all the different levers until a screen popped up. April stood behind him, trying to see what was on the screen, but only seeing the strange clock-like Gallifreyan and little diagrams of what might have been different planets.

"Well, April, you clever little thing, I have some very good news!" The Doctor said, as with a flourish he flipped a switch and the TARDIS began whirring and whooshing as if it was about to take off. "It was just some weak spots in the universe that landed me i your living room, and I found us another one!" The Doctor was laughing with delight, almost as if he hadn't had company in a ridiculous amount of time, which got April wondering where exactly Clara or Amy or Rory or whoever the Doctor was travelling around with these days was. Before she could give the issue much thought, though, the Doctor sprang to some buttons and began to press them like mad. "I figure a clever thing like you would appreciate a nice adventure!" He turned rather extravagently to another lever and paused, his face split in a wicked grin. "So we are off to find out what lurks in this other universe!"

April stared at him in shock, suddenly realizing she was wearing no shoes or anything on her feet and only had on pajama shorts, a tank top, and an overlarge hoodie. "WE'RE WHAT?!?!"

"We're going on an adventure!" he yelled, and April, with a rather nervous feeling in her stomach, leapt to the handrails at the second the Doctor threw the lever and the TARDIS began to shake, setting off with a very shocke April and a very excited Doctor, throwing them into a universe where neither of them knew what was waiting on the other side.


	2. The TARDIS Does Not Appreciate Being Gooed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Myka sat down across from her again. "So, the blue box you and the... Doctor... arrived in vanished, and we'd like your help to find it."
> 
> April leaned back in her seat.m"What exactly did you do to her?"
> 
> Pete looked guilty, so April aimed the force of her glare at him. He finally cracked. "We-we tried to neutralize it..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, second chapter! I don't even really know why I decided to write this fic, just running off the creative energy from the fiftieth i guess. Anyways, April and the Doctor's first adventure takes place in the Warehouse, where they learn that the TARDIS doesn't like being sprayed with goo

April was fairly certain if she was a normal person, she would have passed out by now.

She was clinging to the rail of the TARDIS, which was shaking like mad since it was travelling across the Void. She was only wearing shorty pajamas and a hoodie, and she happened to be travelling with an alien with two hearts. It was enough to make the sanest person question their own existence.

But April had to admit she was enjoying herself greatly. It felt absolutely amazing to be travelling in the actual TARDIS alongside the actual Doctor. SHe couldn't help but laugh as she saw the look of pure enjoyment upon his face, the happiness in his green eyes. But even still, she had to wonder where exactly Clara(she was assuming the Doctor was travelling with Clara since his coat was longer and darker than before he met Clara for the second time on that fateful Christmas in the 1800s) was, since in the two occasions she had seen the Doctor he had been alone.

But she drove the thoughts from her mind as the TARDIS came in for a glorious bumpy landing, eventually falling quiet to indicate they had landed in a different universe.

April straightened up, and so did the Doctor(he had fallen over when the TARDIS had landed; it had been a bumpy one).

"Well," the Doctor said, a rather ridiculous(and adorable) grin lighting his face up. "Shall we go see what lurks in this particular universe?" he asked, offering April his arm.

"Yes, I believe we shall!" APril, said rather pompously, accepting the Doctor's arm. Together, they strode off through the doors of the TARDIS, ready to have an adventure.

~~

A loud siren sounded, startling Claudia out of her nap. She looked up blearily, angrily eyeing the monitor that set off the offending alarm.

The computer continued to beep and flash with red alarms, so Claudia accepted that her nap was over and rolled over to the screen.

"All right, all right, just shut up, I'm coming, so shut up."

Claudia looked at the monitor, then rubbed her eyes and looked closer.

"Holy crap, someone broke into the Dark Vault," she said, to no one in particular. Her fingers flew across the keys and a few moments later, security footage from the Dark Vault popped up. Claudia had to rub her eyes to make sure she was seeing things clearly. SHe then immediately grabbed her Farnsworth and called Artie.

"What is it, Claudia?" Artie asked. He sounded grouchy, as usual with Artie. "I'm in the middle of doing inventory in a sensitive area, so make it quick."

"Is that Claudia?" She heard Pete say in the background. "Hey, Claud!"

"Hey Pete," Claudia said distractedly. "Anyways, Artie, you need to take a look at this."

Claudia raised the Farnsworth to the monitor, showing Artie the footage from the Dark Vault.

"Claudia, I appreciate your prowess when it comes to video editing and all things tech-related, but I'm busy!" Artie snapped, and with that Artie shut down the Farnsworth.

"What? No, Artie!" Claudia said, but gave up on Artie as a bad job. With an annoyed grumbling, she reached out and grabbed her Tesla. She knew it was a really bad idea to go investigate a security breach by herself in the Dark Vault, but if Artie didn't believe her, then Myka wasn't likely to, and it might be a really bad idea to bring Pete. So with an annoyed, "Have to do everything yourself these days," Claudia set off for the Dark Vault.

~~

April peered curiously around the door of the TARDIS and saw that she and the Doctor had appeared in a room full of very strange objects. She stepped out of the TARDIS, and the Doctor followed her, turning around briefly to lock the door.

"Well!" He said, turning around. "Rather strange place we've found ourselves in. Those are some funny little things on those pedistals."

This place looked familiar to April, she just couldn't figure out why. The dark lighting, the caution tape around some of the things, the large mirror in the corner...

"Oh, look! They have a typewriter!" the Doctor said excitedly. He walked towards it, looking really happy at the thought of an alternate universe having a typewriter, and that was when it clicked for April. The mirror, the typewriter, the low lights. They were inside Warehouse 13, almost certainly in the Dark Vault. Just as this thought clicked, she also remembered a certain typewriter and what it had almost done to Pete, the very same typewriter the Doctor had just started to approach.

"Doctor! Stay where you are!" April shouted. "This stuff's dangerous!" She cast a wary eye around and didn't see anything that seemed to place either of them in immediate danger.

The Doctor turned around. "What? You mean the typewriter?" he asked, turning to look at it incredulously. "It's just a typewriter, isn't it?" And with that, he walked over the yellow line that surrounded the stand on which the typewriter had been placed. April reached out to grab him and missed. "See?" the Doctor said, walking up and pressing a few keys on the typewriter. "Just a... normal... typewriter..."

It had started happening. The typewriter was working its mysterious artifacty magic over the Doctor, and his gaze, just moments ago bright and curious, dulled out. His expression collapsed into one that would make even the most ignorant person feel his pain. The Doctor sighed. "Not that it matters. After all, it's just me in the universe..."

April's hands reached up and gripped her hair of their own accord. This was bad bad bad. But she had to keep the Doctor thinking. Maybe he could overcome the typewriter's effects. He was just incredible that way sometimes.

"You aren't alone, Doctor!" April said, hoping to direct the Doctor's attention back on herself and away from the typewriter. SHe glanced around and saw a placard nearby. She ran towards it, hoping to come across something to help her break the Doctor out of the typewriter's effect.

"No, it's just me," the Doctor said. April looked at him, terrified to see the Doctor's hair already starting to turn grey. She turned desperately to the plaque, which unfortunately didn't contain much information. It simply stated that this was Sylvia Plath's typewriter and to stay behind the yellow line, or risk succumbing to an extreme depression while the life was sucked out of them. She turned a worried glance back to the Doctor and saw he was staring with an expression that broke her heart. He didn't just look depressed, he looked lost, like he didn't know what to do. April decided to try and reason him out of the circle.

"Doctor, can you come out of there please?" April tried.

The Doctor just shook his head. April was terrified to see he was already wasting away, his twelve hundred years overcoming him. "I don't feel like moving very much April."

April shook her hands worridly. "Look, Doctor, if you don't move, that typewriter  _will_ kill you!"

The Doctor just shrugged. "It wouldn't be any less than what I deserve."

April just stared. "But you don't!" She searched her mind frantically for something to cheer the Doctor up. "what about Gallifrey? Didn't you find out something amazing about what happened to your planet?"

"Yes," the Doctor said, though he didn't look any more happy. In fact, if anything, he looked even more lost.

"What happened to Gallifrey, Doctor?" she encouraged.

The Doctor shrugged. "I mamaged to end the Time War without destroying an entire planet for once."

"Exactly!" April said, encouraged by his response. "See? You managed to save all those children! Think about that, Doctor!"

"But that doesn't matter," the Doctor said. "She helped me then, and I lost her."

April was shocked. She had no idea what the Doctor was talking about. As far as she knew, nobody had died or been lost recently. Anyways, the Doctor seemed determined to not acknowledge the marvelous, incredible feat he had accomplished by gathering all his regenerations into one place to save his home planet, so April decided to change tact. "Okay, what about me?"

"What about you?" the Doctor said, though April was relieved to see that he looked marginally less lost.

"I don't want you to die. I'm stuck in an alternate universe"(she looked around)"though granted in a pretty interesting one, but I might want to go home at some point you know."

The Doctor just shrugged. "You're a clever girl. You can figure out how to drive the TARDIS."

April was getting desperate. "But I can't open the doors, and if you die, so does the TARDIS!" She looked at the ceiling, wondering how exactly she went from being a college student to trying to talk the most important being in the universe not to let a typewriter drain his life away. "And it's incredibly selfish of you to want to die." The Doctor just shrugged. "What about all the people you haven't saved yet?"

The Doctor was about to respond when April heard what sounded like a door opening and saw a head of orange hair making a beeline towards her. April could not have been more relieved to see someone.

"Okay, what the hell is going on here?" Claudia shouted.

"Look, it doesn't matter, just help me, please!" She pushed Claudia around until she could see the Doctor, looking as lost as ever at the typewriter. With an alarming lurch, April realized that  all of his hair was white and his face was wrinkled. He actually looked his age, and it scared April to death.

"What?" Claudia turned to April, looking really confused and April had to refrain from breaking down. "What's he doing there? And how did you guys get in here?"

"It doesn't matter, just help him, please!" April begged. CLaudia looked around before nodding and rushing over to a wall, which, for some strange reason, had a broom leaning against it. CLaudia ran back over to the typewriter zone and used it to shove the Doctor out. He went flying, and April rushed over and grabbed his sleeve before he came into close proximity to any more dangerous artifacts.

"Hey, Doc," April said tensely. "You feeling ok?"

The Doctor reached upand rubbed his face. "That," he said, "is not an ordinary typewriter.

April smiled weakly and hugged the Doctor. "You had me scared for a second,Doc."

The Doctor only hesitated a second before returning the hug. "Don't worry. Almost completely non-depressed now, nothing to worry about." He pulled back and smiled at April, though she noticed his eyes had a sad tint to them now, as if he had been forcibly reminded of an event he had been trying not to think about.

They both turned around at the sound of Claudia clearing her throat. "As touching as that was"(April blushed and stepped away from the Doctor a little quicker than was really necessary)" I would still like to know exactly what the two of you are doing down here and exactly  _how_ you managed to get in here. Security's so tight it's almost impossible, and I should know! I programmed it in!"

April nodded, then looked awkwardly at the Doctor. "Yeah... sorry about that, Claudia, we didn't mean to land-"

"Wait wait wait," Claudia said holding up a hand. "How do you know my name? I've barely said two sentences to you!"

April froze.

"Oh, that's quite simple, really," the Doctor said, and April was relieved to see he looked much more like himself. The wrinkles were gone, and his hair was once again brown. "We're both from two separate universes, and I'm guessing that since my clever little companion"(a little thrill went through April at that word)"knows about as much about your universe as she knows mine, I'm going to guess that you were a character in another show she watched." He smiled and looked at Claudia appraisingly. "Though I must admit, you also seem to be quite clever, and must work here if you remembered that broom."

Claudia just stared at him. She shook her head. "Okay, listen Bowtie, that's great and all, but you should  _not_ have been able to get in here. So if you both could just come up to the office, I'll call Artie and we can sort this whole mess up."

April shrugged. She couldn't honestly say she was surprised.

The Doctor just looked between Claudia and April before smiling his classic smile. "Of course, shouldn't be a problem!" He winked at April. "Adventure awaits!"

~~

"Okay, go through that one more time for me," Myka said as she sat across from April.

April rolled her eyes, but nevertheless she went through with her explanation for what felt like the umpteenth time.

"I was sitting in my living room when the Doctor-"

"Um, he's the one in the bow tie, right?" Myka asked.

" _Yes_ ," April said. "So, he came into my living room in the blue box, and we just went off-"

"In a hole in the universe?" Myka asked.

April rolled her eyes. Myka had always seemed really smart on TV, but it was taking her a really long time to understand something it had taken April only a few seconds to grasp. "Not really. It's more like a really thin gap between universes. The TARDIS still had to travel through the void and if it was a hole, pretty much the universes would be in danger of collapsing."

"I think I understood about two precent of what you just said," Pete said from a side table, predictably holding a plate with a sandwich on it and talking with his mouth full.

April rolled her eyes. "It's really not that complicated. If it was a hole in the universe, stuff would be flying through in both directions. With a really thin Void, you need a space-travelling ship to get through."

Pete and Myka both looked confused, so April just gave up on trying to explain the complications of travelling through multiple universes.

"Anyways..." April said, "we didn't really mean to land in the Dark Vault. It just sorta happened." April shifted in her seat uncomfortably, realling wishing she wasn't stuck in her pajamas and a sweatshirt, or at the very least se had shoes.

Pete spoke up from his corner again. "How do you just happen to land in the Dark Vault?" he asked, taking another bite of his sandwich.

"It's kinda hard to choose where you land when you have to shoot through a weak point in the universe without crashing."

"Oh." Pete considered this for a second before nodding.

"Oh, um, do you guys mind telling me where the Doctor is?" April asked. Pete and Myka had taken her to the B&B and into one of the rooms to interrogate her, but the Doctor had gone somewere else with Artie and Claudia.

"Oh, they're just down the hall," Myka said. "But you can't go in there yet, Artie and Claudia are still talking to him."

April groaned and put her face in her hands. "You might actually want me to go in there. He's probably talking their ears off and only Claudia is understanding him, _if_ she's lucky and he's not talking about alien technology."

At that moment though, Myka's Farnsworth started blaring. She looked at April, gave a quiet "Excuse me", and got Pete and his sandwich into the hall. They left the door open, though, so April could hear what they were saying if she stayed very quiet.

"Hey, Claud, how's it going with the guy in the bowtie?" Myka said.

"Oh my God, please rescue me," Claudia replied. "He's been talking nonstop about the artifacts he saw in the Dark Vault and some really wierd stuff about energy and particles reacting, nothing at all like a guy that just got whammied by Sylvia Plath's typewriter. He keeps waving this metal thing around too, saying he's looking for 'Void stuff'." April couldn't see the screen, but she would be willing to gamble that Claudia had made air quotations when she said Void Stuff. "How's the girl doing? She at least seemed sane when she was down in the Vault."

"Well,"(that was Pete with his mouth full)"she's saying some pretty crazy stuff, but it kinda makes sense. Saying she and the Doctor guy are from an alternate universe and they didn't mean to land in the Dark Vault."

"And you actually believe that?" Artie said. April could just picture him taking the Farnsworth from Claudia and glaring at Pete and Myka.

"Well, it fits, Artie. That blue box thing was locke up, so we couldn't get in, but it didn't react well to being gooed-"

"Oh no. What did you do to my poor girl?" April could here the Doctor now, speaking in an accusatory tone to Pete and Myka.

"Well, we just tried to neutralize it-"

"Please tell me you didn't use your revolting purple goo that's in those little bottles you have with you!"

"Um... we kinda did..."

April put her face in her hands. That didn't sound good. From what the Doctor had told her, the TARDIS was angry enough at him at the moment without himm allowing strangers to through goo at her.

"Give me that!"(Artie) "What did the box do?"

"It made a whirring noise and the light on top flashed and then it faded out. It just left the Dark Vault." Pete sounded very confused. Apparently he wasn't used to things just vanishing. Being a Warehouse agent had led him to learn to expect the unexpected, but rely on tried and tested methods.

"Did you look for it?" Artie demanded.

"Well, obviously, Artie, but the thing just vanished!" Myka said.

"Hmph. All right. See if you can't get the girl-"

"April."

"Fine! See if you can get _April_ to help you track it down, then we send these two packing."

"Are-are you sure, Artie?"

"Yes I'm sure! They do wierd things, but they don't belong here, so wel send them and thir ridiculous box off to wherever they came from!"

April could faintly hear the Doctor yelling at Artie for calling the TARDIS ridiculous.

"All right, will do Artie."

April could here Myka close the Farnsworth and quickly tried to act like she hadn't been eavesdropping.

Myka sat down across from her again. "So, the blue box you and the... Doctor... arrived in vanished, and we'd like your help to find it."

April leaned back in her seat.m"What exactly did you do to her?"

Pete looked guilty, so April aimed the force of her glare at him. He finally cracked. "We-we tried to neutralize it..."

April put her face in her hands. She had been hoping Pete hadn't been telling the truth about that. She sighed. "Well, odds are I'm not going to be able to find her. This warehouse is huge, and I'm not connected to her."

Pete and Myka traded looks. She could tell they thought she was psycho. April just kept talking. "You're gonna need the Doctor to help on this one, though really it's you guys that would be helping us, since it's  _his_ TARDIS, and we're probably gonna leave after we find it."

Myka sighed and got out her Farnsworth. "I'll see if I can get Artie to let him out."

"Good," April said. "Because he does  _not_ enjoy being locked up."

~~

It had taken them four hours, two false alarms, and the Doctor accidentally activating two artifacts, one of which had bounced repeatedly on the Doctor's head, the other of which was a fez, something not even Rose would have been able to get him to leave alone, so for about ten minutes, April and Claudia chased after the Doctor, who, for some strange reason, seemed to think he was a dog. April was very annoyed with the TARDIS by the time they found her.

April was breathing hard, Claudia was a little grimy, but the Doctor absolutely lit up when he saw the TARDIS.

"There you are!" he said, walking up to the TARDIS and rubbing her in small circles. "Did those nasty Warehouse agents spray you with their nasty goo that was all negatively charged? No wonder you took off, anybody would in their right mind, if they were attacked with something that was likely to clash with their programming..."

He went on like that for a while. April and Claudia exchanged looks.

"Does he always talk to the TARDIS like that?" she asked. Unlike Pete and Myka, Claudia had been readily accepting of the fact that alternate dimensions exist.

April shrugged, but she couldn't help smiling. Her first adventure with the Doctor hadn't gone as planned, but at least he was happy again. She had been very scared when he was under the influence of the typewriter.

"Nah," April said, shrugging. "Just when she's in a bad mood." And with that she walked up to the TARDIS and gave it a few affectionate pats.

"Ah, April!" The Doctor said, turning to her. "Are you ready to go?"

April shrugged, then looked over at Claudia. "I think so, but can you do me a favor?" And she leaned towards the Doctor and whispered her idea in his ear. The Doctor grinned.

"Why yes, I do think we can do that." He turned to Claudia. "Well, Claudia, would you like to see something amazing?"

Claudia shrugged, but April could see that she was interested. "Sure, why not?" She walked over.

The Doctor took the key out of his pocket and unlocked the door of the TARDIS. "Come right on in." He and April exchanged michievious looks.

"What, you expect all three of us to fit in there?" Claudia said with a laugh. "No offense buddy, but it would be a pretty tight squeeze and-" Claudia stopped talking. She had finally looked at the inside of the TARDIS, and it achieved the desired affect. SHe just stared inside from the entrance, then ran around to the inside running her hands around the edges to make sure it wasn't just an illusion. She then ran outside the TARDIS and ran her hand over the edges. April and the Doctor just walked inside, and the Doctor had an amazing look on his face. It was one that showed just how happy he was sharing the wonders of the universe with somebody, and April could tell how happy it made him. Claudia exentually walked back in, looking completely shocked.

"Go ahead, say it," April said, a large smile on her face.

"It... it... it's..." Claudia seemed unable to articulate exactly what it was.

"Brilliant?" April tried. "Fantastic? Impossible?"

"Oh no," the Doctor said. "It's just bigger on the inside."

Claudia looked around, an expression of complete awe on her face. "How big is it?" she asked, examining the center console closely.

"Oh, I have absolutely no idea," said the Doctor. "Honestly, exery time I try to see, she just goes and changes on me. Probably goes on forever."

Claudia nodded. "This is really, really neat."

April nodded and smiled at Claudia. "Indeed it is."

~~

April and the Doctor had left Claudia behind in the Warehouse. They had both invited her on ther next adventure, but Claudia declined, saying they needed her at the Warehouse. It was now just April and the Doctor on board.

April took a deep breath. Neither of them had brought up what the Doctor had said while under the influence of the typewriter.

She looked up. "Hey, Doc?"

The Doctor had been fiddling with the wires under the control deck, swinging on his hammock. At April's words, however, he popped his head up through the grate he had pulled up and moved his goggles to his forehead. (April tried hard not to notice the fact that this look made him even more adorable than normal) "Something wrong April? Need a break from adventuring?"

April shook her head. "No, I was just wondering what you meant back there. You said you were all alone."

The Doctor's face fell. He looked as though he'd rather just pretend April didn't ask that question. He didn't however. He just looked April full in the eye(his own were enormously sad and gave away his age) and said, "It was nothing, April. Just that not-so ordinary typewriter talking."

April swung her bare feet between the rails surrounding the Control deck. "Okay, then who did you lose?"

The Doctor was about to return to his work when one of the displays above him flashed. "Oh, look at that!" he said, hopping out from all the wiring in the TARDIS and looking at the screen more closely. "There's another weak spot in the universes!"

He turned excitedly back to April, though she could tell he was only acting. There was something he wasn't telling her, and as much as APril respected other people's privacy, whatever was bothering the Doctor was eating him up, and April was determined to help him.

"Shall we go and have another adventure, then?" the Doctor asked, already spinning the dials and pushing buttons. April forced a smile on her face and hopped down from the railing to join him at the panels.

"All right, I suppose we can continue adventuring," she said with a smile. "But on two conditions."

The Doctor turned to face April. "And what might those be?"

"One," said April, holding up one finger, "you teach me how to drive the TARDIS a little."

"Easy enough said the Doctor, already turning back to the buttons, dials, and levers that decorated the control panel. "And the second condition?"

April grinned despite herself. "Two, we get me some decent clothes. If we run into any more trouble, I kinda want to be wearing some pants and shoes."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, all done, only took me about four hours to write! Anyways, I don't have any plans to ship April and Eleven, if you're wondering. Also, there is some non-canon stuff about Clara and Eleven that I want to include, since this takes place after the fiftieth and before Matt's regeneration. But other than to say we shall revisit the issue most likely in a later chapter(maybe even the next one, even I don't know). I shall say nothing. So hopefully have the next one up before the end of the weekend, maybe not, but we'll see :)


	3. Demons, As It Turns Out, Don't Get Along Very Well With Aliens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam perked up at mention of the Doctor. "Did you say Doctor?" he asked.
> 
> April nodded warily. Behind her, she could feel the Doctor tense up.
> 
> Dean suddenly stared incredulously at the Doctor. "Is that you, Doc?"
> 
> April whopped around. The Doctor looked incredibly awkward, but he nodded all the same. "Hello, Dean." He looked at the younger Winchester. "Sam."
> 
> The Winchesters and Crowley just stared in disbelief at the Doctor.
> 
> "Oh, don't tell me that was you too!" Crowley said, planting his face in his hands. "I thought that was a different British bloke. He wore glasses and frankly a better suit."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So April finally gets some clothes! I was really feeling bad for that poor girl and decided to take mercy on her! Anyways, it's about time I throw my boys into the mix and watch the Doctor try and understand Crowley. Should be interesting! Also, there's some non-canon stuff, just a head's up.

April sat on the railing, watching the Doctor go about his usual routine of pressing buttons, twiddling dials, and flipping switches. He was supposed to be teaching April how to fly the TARDIS, but so far all he'd done was make a lot of fancy spins, talk very quickly and excitedly, and get them lost on a planet about three thousand light years from where they had tried to land. But April didn't mind. He was happy right now, and that was all that mattered to her.

Her mind flashed to when he had been standing too close to Sylvia Plath's typewriter, how lost and alone he had looked, how he had spoken of someone very important to him being lost. He had so far avoided all of April's questions deftly, or give very good non-answers.

But if April was something other than very smart(a fact that the Doctor kept bringing up, calling April his 'Clever Companion'), it was patient and stubborn, a very good combination for times when she wanted information that people weren't willing to give.

Right now though, April was just content to watch the Doctor move about his giant playground, taking her to his universe through a near-invisible gap and showing her a few very special planets, or, like now, guiding them through another narrow gap in between universes while talking about gravity and energy and direction very quickly.

They finally landed and exchanged grins. The last time they had flown through a Gap, it had been a highly dangerous situation on the other side(the Dark Vault in Warehouse 13), so April voted for a little caution before opening the door. She wrapped her coat a little tighter about herself(she had found a suitable world-travelling outfit that was both stylish and appropriate for whatever random flights they needed to take away from angry aliens). April and the Doctor listened at the door, before deciding it was alright to open the door.

They probably should have used the cameras the TARDIS had on her before looking out.

~~

Dean leaned back in his chair, fully ready to take a break from the pointless research they were doing. Crowley had said there was no was to reverse the spell, and honestly, Dean was inclined to agree. Every book they found made absolutely no references to the fact that angels could fall.

Sam sat up and cracked his neck. "This is pointless," he said, pushing a heavy book away from him. "There's absolutely no information about angels even being able to fall in any of these books."

"My point exactly, little brother," Dean sait, leaning back in his chair and placing his feet on the table, earning bitch face number 9(dude are you really doing that you're supposed to be a mature adult) from Sammy. "None of these books say squat about angels falling."

Sam rolled his eyes and stood up, stretching. "we should call it a night, amybe talk to Crowley in the morning, see what he knows about angels falling."

"Sounds like a plan, -"

"You say it, I punch you in the face."

"Bitch."

"Jerk."

"Night, little bro."

Of course, all it took was for Dean to put his head down on his pillow for all Hell to break loose.

Or at least set the alarm blaring.

Dean cursed quietly and grabbed his gun from under his pillow, running into Sammy in the hall and nodding towards the library. The alarm seemed to be coming from there, and they would need to make sure their pet demon wasn't making a bid for freedom. Not that he was likely to get very far, what with Devil's Traps every few steps.

Sam and Dean arrived at the library and took cover against the edges of the doorway. Dean nonned into the room, raising his gun and seeing Sam do the same. Sam took point, covering the room and then nodding at Dean to follow. The two of them pulled back the doors that hid Crowley.

Dean wasn't entirely certain what he was expecting to see. Maybe Crowley chained to the table, ready to snear at the Winchesters for coming in here when there was something in the bunker.

He wasn't expecting the scene that lay before him.

~~

April opened the door and stepped out, quickly followed by the Doctor. The two of them looked around cautiously.

"Looks safe enough," April said looking around at the darkened room. Of course she was facing the wall, and when she turned around, she had a very different opinion of the place.

The first thing that drew her attention was the opposite wall. She wordlessly turned the Doctor around until he, too, could see the wall, or rather, the grand array of turture devices. April swallowed. This did not look like a very nice place. In fact, she was about to ask the Doctor if they could leave when she caught sight of a man sitting, wearing a suit, and inexplicably chained to the table he was seated at.

The man took one look at them and swore quietly. "Oh, not the nutter in the box again," he said, positively glarig at the Doctor.

The Doctor returned the man's glare with a casual nod. "Crowley."

April's gaze snapped from the Doctor to Crowley. Sure enough, it was the same Crowley she had thought of, the (rather adorable, though violently evil) demon from another show she watched,  _Supernatural_.

"Oh, lovely," April said. "We're in the bunker."

Crowley's gaze went from the Doctor to April, and she saw him wrinkle his nose a bit. "What happened to the last one, you ditherig idiot? Finally get her killed?" Crowley sniffed at April. "She doesn't look much sturdier."

April was expecting the Doctor to react. She wasn't expecting him to brandish the sonic like it was a weapon at the trapped demon.

"It is none of your business what happened to her," the Doctor said, giving the appearance of coldness when April could see fury(and was that guilt, too?) in the Time Lord's eyes. "And I would appreciate it if you didn't go throwing insults at April."

April was now looking up and realizing that, once again, their arrival had tripped some kind of alarm. Which meant that any second Dean and Sam would come barreling in, but she was distracted by the fact that Crowley had seen the Doctor before.

She felt that it was probably a good idea to place herself between the Doctor and Crowley. "You two have met before?" She asked, looking from demon to Time Lord.

The Doctor didn't respond, but Crowley just laughed. "Met? This man is the reason that I'm now trussed up like this!" Crowley raised his arms, showing his manacled wrists. "Though honestly, I half expected that other girl, what was her name..." Crowley adopted a look of thoughtfulness. "Sarah? No, maybe Constance? No, that's not it either,"

April suddenly realized who Crowley was talking about. "Clara?"

"That was it!" Crowley said, nodding, though he wore a rather cruel smile. "Dear old Clara. Though I expect she's off playing the harp in whatever universe she died in."

April turned to look at the Doctor and was thoroughly surprised to see the look of pain on his face. SHe was about to change the subject when the doors to Crowley's cell were whipped open, and there stood Sam(as ever, a freaking giant) and Dean(still freaking gorgeous, how did he  _do_ that?) in the doorway. It would have been a relief, had they not both been carrying guns.

Fortunately, they provided the distraction April could tell the Doctor needed. She cast a quick glance at him before throwing her hands up and glaring disapprovingly at the guns.

"You really should be careful what you point those at," she said while at the same time, trying to look as harmless as possible,an illusion that was not helped at all by the Doctor, though he had at least lowered his sonic screwdriver. He also fortunately noticed the WInchester brothers and the fact that they were armed.

"Oh now really!" he began, and April had to surpress a grin. The boys had no clue what they were in for. "Are the guns necessary?" The Doctor walked forwards and grabbed both Sam and Dean's gun in hands and tugged them away, hlding them by the tips of his fingers. "I don't like guns, too much bad in a little package. Somebody could get hurt." He flicked them into a little corner, and Sam and Dean just stared at each other, looking incredibly confused.

"Who the hell are you guys?" Dean asked, finally finding his voice. He was looking from April to the Doctor to the TARDIS and back.

"Oh don't mind them," Crowley called from where he was sitting. "Just a couple rogue time travellers here, probably just here to mock me and my bondage."

April looked curiously at the Doctor. She was immensly curious about the fact that the Doctor had been here before, but she wasn't going to ask questions in front of strangers(they were strangers, even though April knew pretty much everything about them, had watched every episode live from the go, but they didn't know her, and she didn't want them to start asking a lot of awkwards questions)

Dean threw his hands in the air. "Not freaking time travel again!" He locked his hands behind his head. "I've had enough of that to last me a lifetime."

Sam just stood there and watched the preceding with curious eys.April glanced behind her at the Doctor and saw him warily watching Crowley again. She held up her hands in a sign of peace. She knew how violent the WInchesters could be and was eager to aviod being stabbed with some strange object, being mistaken for a monster.

"It's all right," she said reassuringly. "The Doctor"(she pointed her thumb over her shoulder at him)"and I were just travelling around and accidentally wound up here. We're just about to go." She inclined her head towards the TARDIS.

Sam perked up at mention of the Doctor. "Did you say Doctor?" he asked.

April nodded warily. Behind her, she could feel the Doctor tense up.

Dean suddenly stared incredilously at the Doctor. "Is that you, Doc?"

April whopped around. The Doctor looked incredibly awkward, but he nodded all the same. "Hello, Dean." He looked at the younger WInchester. "Sam."

The Winchesters and Crowley just stared in disbelief at the Doctor.

"Oh, don't tell me that was you too!" Crowley said, planting his face in his hands. "I thought that was a different British bloke. He wore glasses and frankly a better suit."

"That was me," the Doctor said, and April just stared at him. How many times had he visited this universe?

"Well!" the Doctor said suddenly, snapping his hands together. "This has been fun, but April and I really need to go now, Dalek invasion to stop, you know." And with that, he grabbed April by the shoulders and steered her into the TARDIS with barely a backwards glance.

~~

"What was that all about?" April asked a few hours later, once the Doctor had set them just floating in some random space.

He had been very quiet the entire time, barely even looking at April as though afraid she would see something she wsn't supposed to. Even now he avoided looking at April, but busied himself fiddling with the TARDIS controls.

"Doc," she said quietly, but not angrily. She didn't want the Doctor to think she was angry at him(as if that was even possible with his adorable smile). She was just worried.

"Eventually the Doctor stopped ignoring her, though he continued to fiddle with the controls. "I went there a couple centuries ago and helped the boys deal with Lucifer. Very underground, of course." He paused and looked at a monitor, checking the settings. "Then, about twenty years ago, I suppose, I went back with Clara."

April watched him carefully. It was the first she had heard the Doctor talk about Clara since she'd been onboard(she thought it had been a few months), and she wanted to know what had happened, but didn't want to scare him off the subject.

"Crowley was causing issues, so I trapped him and left him for Sam and Dean to find."

"That doesn't sound too bad," April said, and it was true. The Doctor had been through much more trying ordials in his lifetime.

"It wasn't," the Doctor said, still fiddling with his dials. "It was what happened after that was."

April sat and waited for an explanation, but the Doctor was tight-lipped, though he did send them back to his own universe("You just have to see Adenstrom, the people there look like birds, and they sing like them too! And the food!") BUt April noticed he wasn't quite as happy as he had been before they landed in the  _Supernatural_ universe.

APril did her best, but nothing she did seemed to cheer him up anymore, not even when she managed to successfully(or at least without causing extreme damage) land the TARDIS on Earth in the Doctor's universe.

APril was getting worried, but she couldn't do anything but watch and wait for the Doctor to decide it was time to talk about what happened to Clara.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, there's something I didn't see coming! I honestly most of the time don't even know what I'm going to say until I do! So something happened to Clara very shortly after she and the Doctor trapped Crowley. And the poor Doctor! Crowley made him relive those things even tough he didn't want to! We'll just have to wait and see if April can cheer the Doctor up!


	4. The One Time April Was Sadder Than The Doctor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> April turned around and stood on her tiptoes(she hated being short sometimes) to try and get a glimpse of Sherlock, though she had to admit she was unsurprised when John answered the door. "Dang it," she said.
> 
> "What, that's not him?" the Doctor asked.
> 
> April shook her head. "That's just John. He does the shopping and runs interference pretty much for Mycroft, since Sherlock has a slight sibling issue."
> 
> "He also happens to be wondering what, exactly, two people who clearly don't belong here in London are doing discussing him."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is gonna be a bit different. For once no trouble the second they step out of the TARDIS! Takes place after Sherlock 2.2 but before 2.3, since it's fairly modern but no complication of a dead Sherlock, and we're gonna find out something about April!

The TARDIS landed a little roughly, but April had learned by now to hang on. She and the Doctor exchanged grins before heading to the door. Their last little adventure had wound them up in a town full of super geniuses called Eureka, and April may or may not have accidentally set off the town self-destruct security measure. Fortunately, despite the Doctor's no weapons policy, he was able to shut it down and save the Sheriff the usual stress-over-the-smart-stuff process of saving the town.

April walked over and opened the TARDIS doors a little, peering around. "Looks safe enough." she called over her shoulder.

"Right! Then let's go and explore this strange new world we have found ourselves in!" the Doctor said, sweeping up next to April and offering her his arm. April took it with a smile and together, they walked through the doors.

~~

April spun in a circle, looking around at the small London square they had found themselves at, smiling the entire time. "I've never been to London before. Hell, I've never even been out of California!"

"Oh, so you weren't impressed with the plnet Tornea, but I take you to an alternate London and you giggle like a little school girl," the Doctor teased. "Next, you'll be more excited about the next Twitter update rather than a clean energy rocket."

April giggled, but he suddenly stopped and walked over to the street sign. "No way. Oh, no way!"

She turned excitedly to the Doctor. "Do you know where we are?"

The Doctor looked around. "Well, if I didn't know better, I'd say we landed on the set of another London, but guessing by the fact that you're jumping around like a little school girl"(April promptly stopped bouncing around)"I'd say we found our way onto another one of those TV shows you watch."

April nodded, still hardly able to contain her excitement. "We're on Baker street!" She immediately ran down the street , looking at the numbers on the doors and stopping before one in particular. "More specifically," she paused, looking at the Doctor, who had followed along a little more slowly, "221B, home of probably the smartest human ever. I'd say person, but I doubt he's smarter than you." SHe started bouncing a little bit again in excitement.

"Are you going to tell me who it is, or am I going to have to guess?" the Doctor asked.

APril let out an uncontrollable giggle. "It's Sherlock. Sherlock Holmes of 221B Baker Street!" And with a little bounce she rang the doorbell and pulled the Doctor back into the crowd.

"Any particular reason we're not going to talk to him?" the Doctor asked.

"Well, I... um... you can't just ring someone's doorbell and say you wanted to meet them just because you're from an alternate universe and they're on a TV show that you obsess over and have waited years to watch the next season since the director does  _your_ show"(she pointed at the Doctor)"and doesn't really have time to direct but he still does and makes all the little fangirls happy." She took a deep breath(all that came out rather quickly). "Considering the  _last_ time we tried that, it was at a prison and we almost got eaten by zombies."

The Doctor held up a hand, looking like he was going to argue, but instead he hesitated a moment and said, "Good point."

April turned around and stood on her tiptoes(she hated being short sometimes) to try and get a glimpse of Sherlock, though she had to admit she was unsurprised when John answered the door. "Dang it," she said.

"What, that's not him?" the Doctor asked.

April shook her head. "That's just John. He does the shopping and runs interference pretty much for Mycroft, since Sherlock has a slight sibbling issue."

"He also happens to be wondering what, exactly, two people who clearly don't belong here in London are doing discussing him."

April and the Doctor whipped around, and it took every ounce of April's self control not to bounce around screaming with excitement because there, right in front of her, was the legendary Sherlock Holmes(from BBC). Hi was just as tall as she thought(he had an inch on the Doctor), his hair was just as dark, and damn, his eyes were just as startling, if not more so, than she thought.

"Hello there!" the Doctor said, holding out a hand. "I'm the Doctor, and my overexcited friend here"(the Doctor put a hand on April's shoulder)"is April Milligan. She's from America,but she's quite a fan of yours."

"Well obviously. The fact that she's refraining as much self control in order to not look like a dithering idiot in front of me was a dead giveaway, though I must say I wonder how exactly she knows about me, since it's quite obvious she's never read John's blog." Sherlock's gave slid up and down the Doctor before turning to look down at April.

"Um..." April bit her lip, blushing. She had never wanted to really talk to Sherlock. She might have fangirled over him(and maybe written shipping fanfics a little) but she knew that a conversation with him was likely to drive her crazy.

Sherlock merely shook his head. "Never mind. It's clear that your mind is in too much of a state of shock to process ayhting properly."

"That's not very nice," the Doctor said, looking slightly incredulous.

Sherlock shook his head, looking at the Doctor. "Well, if you will let me say something, you are not in a position to judge what is 'very nice'"(he made air quotes)"seeing as recently you yourself have done something horrible, two somethings, though one was a long time ago, you just recently absolved yourself of guilt of one. You were simply doing what you do, something remarkably dangerous that you don't think is, when the second something happened, someone was hurt, maybe even died. It shocked you very deeply, and you set about trying to fix it, or forget it, probably forget it, mainly by bringing in someone new, someone you had never met before, only you vowed to do nothing dangerous. You thought by introucing someone new to the rather remarkable job you hold, you would feel better, maybe even be happy. It worked for a while, but something happened, early on, to remind you of what you've done, and now you can't get as happy as before."

"Hey!" April shouted. She had been watching the Doctor, and he was looking in equal measure surprised and guilty. She turned to glare at Sherlock. "Knock it off!"

"Oh, please," Sherlock sniffed, turning to April. "I know you fancy this man your protector, but you've only been travelling with him for a few years. You're just the first person he ran across that didn't bore or irritate him."

"How-" April started, but Sherlock cut her off.

"Your clothes, they give evidence that you've been travelling, because despite your sense of style, there's a certain functionality about them, saying that in your travels, you do a lot of running. You've been, only travelling for about a year, your clothes look thoroughly washed, though they haven't been replaced, and you're not one to sto and buy clothes. Until you began travelling with him, you led a rather cedentary life, slight excess skin around your face and stomach show where you recently lost the weight that you had. Though interestingly, you haven't been sleeping well recently. You're worried about someone, more specifically you're worried about losing someone like you lost your mother.  You grew up with just your father, more masculine stance indicates so, though you're an only child and your father doted on you. You don't love your mother, you don't like that she left, but you think it's your fault she left, you think you lost her, and you don't want to lose anyne else like her-"

"SHUT UP!" April yelled, staring at Sherlock. Her eyes stung, and she blinked, trying her best not to cry. The Doctor looked absolutely shocked, and he looked between April and Sherlock with a nervous look on his face. "Just shut up, Sherlock. You don' know anything. You dont... she left! She left me behind, but you don't get a say... I'm not scared... I..." She turned and ran off, just running, because really, she didn't want to think about the fact tht she was right. She could hear the Doctor yelling after her, but for a second she didn't want to talk to anybody, not even him.

~~

The Doctor turned angrily to Sherlock. "That was not very nice, you know. April is a nice girl, and she's very clever. Why did you have to go and say those things to her? Now she's upset!"

Sherlock merely shrugged. "I simply said what she wouldn't admit." He looked appraisingly at the Doctor. "You're right. She is a nice girl. Take good care of her." And with that he turned to leave, calling over his shoulder, "I'd give her a few minutes if I were you, Doctor. She doesn't like crying in front of people."

The Doctor just stared. Sherlock, so far, had been the only one to not attack or threaten them, yet he had done the most damage. It had been a long time since the Doctor had needed to comfort someone crying, and if he was honest with himself, he had completely forgotten how to do that, just like how he had almost forgotten how to take care of babies(the incident with Craig had been very embarrassing).

For now, though, the Doctor was quite content to stick with Sherlock's advice and give April time to cool down before he started looking for her.

~~

April was just sitting under a tree in the middle of some park, cursing Sherlock and his horribly good-looking snarky genius. WHy did he have to be such a damn good deducer/deductionist/master of deduction(she wasn't entirely certian what the correct term was)?

Of course, he had been almost spot on about everything. Actually, he had been spot on, just missing a small detail, one that April hadn't even told her closest friends.

She angrily wiped away her tears. Stupid consulting detective and his stupid deduction skills.

"Oh, now what's a clever little girl like this doing crying under a tree in the middle of London?"

April hastilywiped her tears away with her sleeve before turning a little to look at the Doctor. He was leaning against the tree April was sitting under, his hands in his pockets. When April looked up, he gave his quirky little smile. April just shrugged and turned to look at the people walking around on the other side of the park. "Just thinking," she said.

The Doctor sat down next to April and gave her a sympathetic look. "Do you want to talk about it?"

April let out a little huff and smirked. "Don't think it would help, but sure."

The Doctor just looked at her patiently.

"Well, for starters, he's right. My dad did bring me up, and I didn't like it." April shook her head, angry to feel more tears filling her eyes. "Tried to do everything for me, but it drove me crazy. Left the house when I was eighteen and never looked back."

She took a deep breath. "That's what I tell people. When they ask about my mom, I just say she left." Het gaze dropped to her hands, folded in her lap, looking helpless. "What I don't say is that she left because she was depressed, or where she went, or that she just left me behind, and I hated her for it."

April had to stop and rub her face at this point. She glanced at the Doctor and, as she expected, saw a looked of understanding on his face. She just shook her head and kept going.

"I was the one who found her. She had said she was just going up to the attic. She'd been up there for a while, so I went to check up on her. Didn't think much of it, thought she was just lost in a book or something. She'd do that a lot," April said, taking a deep breath. "Read a book and forget the time. That's what I thought I'd see. Not..." She wiped away her tears again, furious at herself for her weakness. "I was six, and I didn't know what all the red meant. I thought she spilled something, maybe, and was trying to clean it up... but there she was..." April's fists clenched in anger. "Her name was May. That's why she named me April, because we were both spring months, and she liked that. Didn't seem to care she was just leaving me behind. Worst part is, it probably was my fault. Day before, she lost my favorite book, and I freaked out.  Told her I hated her, wanted her dead."

She turned to peek at the Doctor, then looked away, wiping her eyes. "Go ahead."

"Go ahead with what?" the Doctor asked. April was determined not to look at him while she got the pity party.

"You know, the usual stuff. The 'I'm so sorry.' The 'That sounds terrible.' Maybe even 'I can't imagine how you felt about that.'"

"I'm not going to do that," the Doctor said, and April couldn't help but turn around and stare at him.

"First of all," he said, standing up and offering April his hand. She was so surprised, she took it. "You should know me well enough to know that I don't say empty words." He was looking at her as though he could really see her, and April suddenly realized that this man had probably gone through much more than something as silly and trivial as a mother scared to face a daughter she thought didn't love her. He took her face in his hands. "Second, it was most definately not your fault. There are some people that don't want to be saved, April, and there's nothing we can do about that."

April could feel more tears building up. The Doctor rubbed them away with his thumb.She shook her head a little, and couldn't look him in the eye when she said what had really been prying on her mind. "I'm just tired of losing people I care about."

"Well, April, I feel fairly confident in saying that I'm not going anywhere for a while."

She started and looked at him, but she could see amusement in the depths of his eyes. He shrugged. "Lucky guess." He grinned, and April couldn't help but smile back. "Now, what do you say we go have another adventure? I'm starting to get rather bored of all these people and their deducing."

And with that, he let go of April, but with a small bow, he pointed the way back to the TARDIS.

~~

It wasn't until they got back to the TARDIS and were well on their way to the next planet that April realized she had been so wrapped up in her own problems that she forgot about what Sherlock had said about the Doctor. She was about to ask about it when she saw him start his little dance he did whenever he was driving the TARDIS, all the running and the spins and the button pushing. But he looked happy again. He had helped fix his companion, and April didn't want to remind him of something that was going to wreck him over. The Doctor might be an expert at cheering people up, but she was just April, and she was fairly certain if the Doctor talked about what happened, he would break, and she wouldn't be able to do a damn thing about it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well there! Sorry for being kinda depressing! And I swear I love Sherlock to death(and a little beyond) but I was trying to present him as realistically as possible, so I kinda had to turn him into a bit of a jerk because, if we're honest, he kinda is(but an amazing jerk :)). Next chapter is gonna be the last one I think, so we'll find out what happened to Clara!


	5. Government Agencies Are Highly Annoying

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "After you then!" the Doctor said, opening the door and gesturing out of it with one arm, the other holding a box of Jammie Dodgers.
> 
> April smiled and walked out, though she regretted this the moment she set foot outside the TARDIS door.
> 
> The first thing that happened was that she saw a lot of guns pointed straight at her.
> 
> The second was that she saw the people holding the guns.
> 
> The third was that she saw Phil Coulson looking at her like she was a ghost.
> 
> "Oh, come one!" April shouted, throwing up her hands. "Can't I just set foot outside without having a gun pointed at me?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not the last chapter! Might not know when the last chapter will be. This was a random idea that I randomly had. I figured it would be amusing if I combined the Agents of SHIELD universe and the Doctor Who Universe since Doctor Who rarely enters the US. And our little intergalactic/interuniversal interlopers haven't had a run-in with the law before.

"So, I was thinking..." the Doctor began. "What do you say we take a little fun adventure?"

April looked up from the screen she had been checking and looked at the Doctor suspiciously. "Why do I get the feeling that this is going to be ridiculous and/or dangerous?"

"Probably because it most likely is," the Doctor sai with a wicked grin. "Well, what do you think, Miss Milligan?"

April pretended to flip a few switches and look disinterested, but it wasn't long before she cocked an eyebrow at the Doctor. "Do you really need to ask?"

With a laugh, the Doctor began running around flipping levers. "Oh, yes! I knew you'd say yes!"

April giggled and sat back on the railings. It was amazing to have the happy-go-lucky Doctor back. "So what is it exactly we're going to be doing?"

The Doctor smacked a small button rather violently(it tended to stick sometimes) and spun on his heels to face April. "We're going to visit America and pay you a visit, of course!"

April blinked. "We're what now?"

The Doctor was positively beaming. "Well, we're from separate universes, so it stands to reason that you exist in mine as well as yours!"

April just stared. He had to be kidding. He just had to be. "So you thought that it would be a good idea to just... pop into my living room with myself just say that you and I wanted to visit me in my living room when I already exist in a separate universe... and expect me to be okay with it and not melt down?"

The Doctor rocked on his feet for a moment before nodding. "Yes, I believe that about sums it up. Oh!" He spun around and reached into a box at his feet, pulling out, of all things... a fez. He put it on. "And we're going to bring you some Jammie Dodgers!"

April just stared. But he looked so hopeful that really April would have been hard-pressed to say no. "All right," she said, getting down from the railing and putting her hands in her pockets. "Let's go pay the other me a visit."

The Doctor beamed and started pressing buttons and spinning dials again. He looked at April and with a devilish grin, turned one with a flourish and shouted, "GERONIMO!!!"

~~

It was certainly not Agent Phil Coulson's idea of a good day. The suspect had been at home when he and his team arrived on the premises. She had put up a fight, but eventually Agent Grant Ward had been able to take her down. Agents were now combing her house, ready to take any and all technology, including computers and weapons.

"Well, boss, there's another member of the Rising Tide taken care of," Ward said, coming to stand next to Coulson.

Coulson nodded, his eyes on the suspect as she was being taken away. "You're making a huge mistake!" she spat. "You shoudn't be keeping these things secret, Coulson! The public needs to know! The Tide is Rising, Coulson!" The agent escorting her tightened his grip and shoved her forwards, towards the transport vehicle.

Of course, it was at that moment that Coulson knew he should have been more careful.

Right behind him, something popped up, and Coulson could tell his already long day was about to get a million times longer.

~~

"So your adress one more time," the Doctor said. He had gotten them through to his universe and was just putting the finishing touches on their final destination.

"Seventeen Jeneven Avenue, South San Fransisco, California," April said, still hanging on to the support railings. The ride to the Doctor's universe had been a bit bumpier than usual, so she was a little reluctant to release her support so soon.

"Right!" The Doctor pressed one last button and the TARDIS set out towards Other April's little house.

The landing was a little bumpy, but so far everything seemed okay. At least nobody was bangin on the doors, demanding they come out and explain themselves. That had happened on the planet Semandia, home of a people that were really polite, unless you happened to land right in the middle of their sacred Tree Forests. Then they tended to be a little rude and point very pointy sticks at you unless you could explain yourself.

"So far, so good," April said, listening at the door(not really the best method, but whatever). "I think we're okay to go out."

"After you then!" the Doctor said, opening the door and gesturing out of it with one arm, the other holding a box of Jammie Dodgers.

April smiled and walked out, though she regretted this the moment she set foot outside the TARDIS door.

The first thing that happened was that she saw a lot of guns pointed straight at her.

The second was that she saw the people holding the guns.

The third was that she saw Phil Coulson looking at her like she was a ghost.

"Oh, come one!" April shouted, throwing up her hands. "Can't I just set foot outside without having a gun pointed at me?" She stuck her head back through the TARDIS doors. "Hey, Doc! You didn't tell me SHIELD shared a universe with you!"

The Docto walked out after her and made sure to lock the door, though when he turned around he admittedly didn't look happy.

"Always you humans and guns!" he said, and crossed his arms rather grumpily.

By this point Phil had recovered from his aparent shock, though he kept glancing over his shoulder at an unmarked van. "Identify yourselves," he said rather calmly, and April could see someone she guessed was Agent Grant Ward(she had only seen one or two episodes of SHIELD, but it was a superhero-y show and she usually didn't watch that kind of stuff) standing near his shoulder.

"Alright, we'll talk to you, but please point those guns somewhere else. I'd rather not end up accidentally filled with bullet holes, and I don't think April would either," the Doctor said.

At his words, Phil raised a hand to his earpiece and spoke into it. "I'm sorry, transport, please confirm you still have the subject in custody." He paused for a moment, then nodded at something the voice in his ear said. "Alright, lower your weapons,"  he instructed the five or so agents around him. They all complied.

April breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks," she said. "My name is April Milligan, and this is the Doctor." She laughed a little, then held up her hands and said, "We come in peace."

The Doctor waved.

Phil regarded them for a second before turning to the agents around him. "Take them in, and make sure to take the blue box too." With that he turned to Grant and said something to him that April couldn't here. Grant nodded, his eyes firmly on her as four of the agents came up and placed her in handcuffs. April just rolled her eyes. She noticed more than one of them was a little wary to approach, like they were afraid she might sprout fangs and bite them or something. She resisted the urge to shout 'boo!'

"Ouch! Hey! Be careful with those, they hurt when you close them too tight!" the Doctor said from behind her. The agents escorted the two of them to the van, and April couldn't help herself. 

"I don't think we landed at the right place, Doc," she said, unable to contain the flash of amusement that came up.

"No, I don't think so, either, unless you're somehow an alien in this universe," the Doctor replied.

April just laughed. There was no universe where that would happen. Either that or being soe kind of national terrorist.

~~

"What?" April said in annoyance. The handcuffs chaffed her hands as she sat up at Coulson(she thought that was his name) slid the photo across to her.

"I said, there are two of you today, April."

"That's not possible," April said, and she slid the photo closer to her. But sure enough, there she was, standing next to a strange man(he was a littl adorable though) wearing a fez and holding a box of cookies. "That's not possible. I was sitting in your stupid van the entire time." She put the photo down and slid it across the table back at Coulson. "So nice try, but I ain't buying it."

"I'm not asking you to buy anything, April. I'm simply telling you the truth. We took you in, and then this box just appeared out of nowhere, and the man and second you walked out. You didn't look that happy to see us." Coulson looked unnervingly serious, though a little annoyed, as though the thought of two April's gave him a headache.

"I'm not believing it till I see it," April said stubbornly, leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms.

Coulson shrugged, grabbing the photo and standing up. "Suit yourself," he said, turning and walking out of the interrogation room.

April listened to the door slam, then her brain ran into overdrive. If there really was another one of her... but how was that even possible? April wished she could stand up and start pacing. Pacing always helped her think, almost as if her thought process moved forwards along with her body. She settled for tapping her feet.

There was only one reasable explanation as two why there was two of her, and that was cloning. Somehow, someone got ahold of her DNA and had managed to make a clone of her as an adult. It was most likely possible, even if she hadn't exactly heard of it. The government kept enough secrets.

A clone, though, wouldn't explain exactly how she and some strange man(with a fez on his head, no less) had just materialized on her living room floor. They could have teleported, she guessed, but that didn't seem very likely.

Then her mind turned to the recent events that occured in New York. A strange large portal just appeared in the sky, letting in hundreds of thousands of Chitauri, intent on destroying the human race. So was that it? Did some strange alien race with the technology to transform themselves into anything they wanted turn one of their own into a copy of herself, then ise an invisible portal to transport the alien and a companion as backup to her living room with the intention of taking over Earth?

It was a possibility, but not a very likely one. First of all, the odds that an alien race could create portals, invisible ones no less, without the Tessaract was incredibly unlikely. Second, aliens were intelligent enough to know it probably wasn't a good idea to take someone's place while said someone was still walking around. Third, no alien in their right mind would choose to transform into April. All right, she was pretty much a genius, and she was a part of Rising Tide, but she wasn't very high up and had absolutely no political weight, unlike someone like the President.

Then the idea occured to her. It was absolutely absurd and almost guarantee to be impossible, but April liked to think she had an open mind when it came to the impossible. After all, until New York, she had absolutely no idea aliens existed. So April carefullythought about it, and decided on the only logical solution. Unlikely, but not impossibly, there were other universes, and in one of those other universes, there existed another April, pretty much identical to herself, that either owned(hell, who knew what could be possible in other universes) or knew someone who owned a machine with the capeability to travel across the universes and had decided to pay the other version of herself a visit.

It was highly unlikely, and if she told anyone her theory they would think she was nuts, but it was what April was willing to believe.

So with this thought on her mind, she sat back in her chair and waited for either Coulson or some other knuckleheaded SHIELD agent to come interrogate her.

~~

"Where's the Doctor?" April asked the second Grant walked into the room. Her wrists were uncomfortably handcuffed to the table, and the freaking paranoid agents had taken her coat, so she had a bad case of the shivers. Add that to the fact that she had no idea where the stupid agents had taken the Doctor, and you might be able to say April wasn't in a good mood.

"Who's the Doctor?" Grant immediately asked, taking the chair across from April.

She rolled her eyes. "The Doctor is the ali... guy... that came out of the blue box with me," April said, making her irritation well heard. "Now, where is he?"

"That information is classified," Grant said, and April could feel her sense of irritation growing.

"Look, either tell me where he is, or take me to him, because, seriously, you guys don't know who you're dealing with," April snapped.

"If you mean we're dealing with an alien hailing from England, with extensive, and highly classified files, located in the Torchwood and UNIT databases, and he flies around in a blue box, usually accompanied by a female human, sometimes also a male, usually human, though recently, it seems, there's been one that is unable to die." Grant folded his hands over a really thick folder and ignored April's look of blatant shock. "Oh, I see. You either didn't think or didn't expectthat SHIELD was in contact with other similar divisions located in Great Britian."

April shrugged. Honestly, since the Doctor had walked into her life two years ago and she found out pretty much all her TV shows actually existed in alternate universes, it was hard to keep her off her feet for very long. "Okay, whatever. But he gets really restless when he gets locked up. At least tell me you left him the Jammie Dodgers or the fez."

Grant's face gave absolutely nothing away. "No, we did not. Given that he's known to be able to come up with and execute elaborate plans using the most mundane of items, we decided it might not be a good idea to leave him withthe cookies and the hat."

"It's a fez," April said, not even bothering to hide her annoyance.

"Alright," Grant said. "Would you like to tell me exactly how Rising Tide managed to duplicate you?"

"What?!" April sat up faster than she thought possible.

"I believe you heard the question clearly, April," Grant said, and he opened the file and began laying out various images that were clearly of April, yet were obviously not April since she hadn't grown up in this universe. "We already know you work for Rising Tide, your duplicate as much as admitted it. All we want to know is how you managed to duplicate yourself. How you made contact with th Doctor an got him to trust you would be helpful and useful information as well."

April was stunned. If the handcuffs hadn't been directly attatched to the table, she would have put her face in her hands. "I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. I didn't contact the Doctor, he just appeared in my living room one day and took me with him!" She glared at Grant, finding this secret government agency to be highly annoying.

"Grant shrugged and put the photos back in the folder. He then pulled out a transcript and laid it out in front of her. "Read this, please."

April just glowered at Grant for a minute before reaching out and sort of flicking the transcript towards her. AS she read it, her eyes went wider and wider. "What the hell?" she muttered under her breath.

_April: And you're sure they don't know we have it?_

_Unidentified: No, they don't know. We can separate you and have you do twice as much for the Rising Tide._

_April: Is it tested?_

_Unidentified: No, not yet. You would be the first._

_(pause)_

_April: I'll do it._

_  
_The conversation went on for a while, but April didn't even look at it. She just stared at Grant. "Are you telling me that I'm part of a secret plot in the Rising Tide?" April shook her head. "But I wouldn't join. Ever. It's so unlike me." She puzzled over the transcript some more.

Grant just looked at April. "Well, I hate to break it to you, April, but you're a big part of the Rising Tide, and we know the experiment was succes, so just tell us how you did it and we can talk about removing vandalism and blackmail from your charges list."

April shook her head. "I'm sorry, but this is all a big misunderstanding. I'm not from this universe."

She was expecting Grant to flinch, or at the very least look confused. She was not expecting the sarcastic nod he gave, nor him standing up and preparing to leave. He grabbed the folder and the transcript and turned to leave, at the last second saying, "If you decide to finally tell the truth, we'll be ready to listen and lighten your sentence." And with that he was gone.

April was in a slight state of shock. She and the Doctor hadn't landed in the wrong place. SHIELD had been there to arrest her... the Other Her... herself... (frickin' universe complications) for being part of the Rising Tide. She(or the other her, it was all very confusing) And SHIELD thought she was a copy of herself, when really she was just another version of herself from another universe. But if what Grant told her was true, then that meant somewhere in the US was a copy of herself that was also herself and yet a copy of the her from this universe. Which meant at this moment there were three Aprils in this universe.

Cross-universe travel made things complicated.

~~

She had been trying to sleep when Skye came in and shoved her awake.

"April, what the hell were you thinking? You let SHIELD catch you!" Skye was furious.

April just shrugged. "It's all part of the plan, Skye, don't you worry about that. Plus, I'm still working for Rising Tide. Probably trying to hack in and rescue myself right now, like the idiot savaunt I am." She looked up. "But I'll be out soon, don't you worry about that."

Skye was slightly puzzled. "But they already caught your body double, April. She's in Interrogation Room Three."

April laughed. "That's not my double, Skye. That's some random chick named April that looks like me." She flashed Skye a mischevious grin. "Now go run along and play government agent, April. Talk to that Doctor man. I hear he's interesting."

Skye walked out, leaving April laughing like a maniac at her little joke.

~~

Phil walked in next, and April was angry to see he was carrying the Doctor's sonic screwdriver.

"What do you guys want this time?" she snapped.

Phil sat down and held out the sonic screwdriver. April took it, shocked. "I'm seeing if what the Doctor says about you is true. He says that you are not part of the Rising Tide, that you're from an alternate universe, and that you're , to use the words he said, 'the cleverest girl for at least three galaxies.'" He nodded at the sonic screwdriver. "The Doctor has been given the okay from both UNIT and Torchwood, Cardiff division. Both of them said it's all right to trust you if the Doctor does. I just want to see if it's true. So you have that, now. Let's see what you do now." And with that, Phil stood up and walked out the door.

April just stared at the sonic. So Phil was seeing if she really was part of Rising Tide(which she was, but at the same time it wasn't herself, just another her and her double, it was too confusing to keep straight). All she really wanted to do was get herself and the Doctor out of here, but she had no idea where the Doctor or the TARDIS were, or where the exists were.

She also didn't have any idea how to work the sonic without accidentally blowing the lights or setting off a million alarms.

But she owed it to the Doctor and to herself to at least try to get the two of them out of SHIELD headquarters.

So with a deep breath, April aimed the sonic at her handcuffs and pressed the button.

With a high-pitchedwhine, the sonic unlocked her handcuffs. They sprang open, and April immediately stopped using the sonic and put it in her pocket, going to the door and finding it strangely unlocked. She ran into the hall and looked around.

It was disturbingly empty.

That's when she realized that she could here screaming in the distance.

April groaned. Why did something like this have to happen  _right_ when she was going on a rescue mission?

She paused in the hallway for a moment, trying to think like the Doctor. His first instinct would be to prevent anyone from getting hurt, even at his own expense. But he was also capable of much more amazing feats than April, so April decided, in the interest of helping the people screaming at the end of the hallway, she was going to find the Doctor.

~~

April was just smiling, listening to the stupid SHIELD agents trying to fight what she was assuming to be some kind of alien that had gotten into SHIELD headquarters. It was almost without a doubt the work of her double. All that was left to do was wait patiently.

In fact, a few seconds after this thought occured to her, she could hear a strange high pitched whining, and her double walked in and looked around for a second. April 2's eyes landed on April.

"Oh," April 2 said, and April realized this wasn't her double. It was the April from another universe.

"I didn't realize I was being held here as well," Universe April(UA) said.

"Yes, yes I am," April said, an idea taking place. "Listen, you couldn't happen to just let me out of here and take my place, would you? I promise I'll drop SHIELD a note saying you aren't really me, and you're from a different universe as soon as I can."

UA's eyes widened a bit, but they soon fell into what April could only assume was her hardass face. "I knew I was smart. I just didn't expect  _you_ to be as smart."

APril shrugged and tried her best to look harmless. "Why wouldn't I be? I'm you, aren't I?"

UA glared at her(self?). "See, I'd think so too, except for the fact that you were  _stupid_ enough to join up with Rising Tide!"

April's blood boiled, but she forced herself to remain calm. "I didn't really have a choice after New York. I realized the government was keeping things hidden that they shouldn't. The world needed to know. I got into a rough spot, and Rising Tide bailed me out, took me into their ranks—"

"Made you a double?" UA sneered.

April shrugged. "I was just the beta tester for that. It worked. Nothing I can do about that."

UA glared at her(self? stupid universe travelling). "Whatever. Just know this." She leaned in closer. "I'm going to leave you in here because I can't think of a better way for you to learn that playing games with Rising Tide isn't going to get you anywhere." UA straightened up and was just about to walk out when April called out, "How's Mom doing? She still forget to eat when she reads books?"

UA turned and glared at April. "None of your business what Mom does. You gave her up." And with that, she was gone, making sure to close and lock the door.

~~

It took a couple hours, but April finally found the right room. She sonicked the lock and flung open the door to see the Doctor, looking very bored and dejected(they took his fez!), though he wasn't handcuffed to the table.

"Hey, Doc!" April said, running up to him. "We have a major issue right now!"

The Doctor looked up in surprise. "April!" He saw the sonic. "My sonic!" He walked over and took it from April, already smiling. He gave the sonic a kiss. "They didn't strip you down!" And with that, the Doctor slipped the sonic inside his inner coat pocket(how come he got to keep his jacket? April didn't and she was still freezing). He looked up. "So, what is his situation?"

April just nodded her head towards the door, through which the faint sounds of screaming could be heard. The Doctor sobered up.

"So what do you wanna do about it?" The Doctor just shrugged and walked past April down the hall towards the screaming. "Should probably see what it is first."

April smiled. "I agree with you, good sir!"

Together, they set off down the hall.

~~

"How the hell is there a frickin' Dalek in the middle of SHIELD headquarters?" April asked in disbelief as she and the Doctor hid behind a table, hoping to avoid attention.

The Doctor peeked over the edge of the table. "In all honesty, no idea. They all destroyed themselves at the end of the Time War."

"Well, obviously!" April said. "It was in the fiftieth anniversairy," she said when the Doctor turned to her looking confused.

"My show's been on for fifty years?" he asked, sounding incredulous.

"Not important right now!" April snapped, stealing another peek at the Dalek. It was busy shouting "EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!" at the agents of SHIELD(haha, yes used the show name here) that were bravely trying to fight the Dalek. They were falling one by one, though, and soon there would be none left. "There is a rampaging Dalek on the other side of this table and we need to get rid of it before it completely finishes of SHIELD!"

"Right, good point," the Doctor said. "Well, we should probably figure out how it got in here in the first place."

"Right," April said. "You know how sometimes I have really, really good ideas?"

"Yes," the Doctor said, then hesitated. "Wait, tell me you aren't doing something really stupid."

April shrugged. "Just say behind the table," she said and ran off to get at the Dalek from a different corridor.

"EXTERMINATE!" the Dalek shouted(or beeped, she really didn't know what Daleks did). April took a deep breath before jumping out from behind her semi-safe hallway and shouted at the Dalek, "Hey pepperpot! Get your looks fro your mom?"

"HUMAN!" the Dalek shouted, turning its eye stalk on her. "EXTERMINATE!"

"I don't think so pepperpot! I hae protection! I know where the Doctor is!"

The reaction was immediate. The Dalek seemed, if anything, a little afraid(though it's hard to tell with Daleks, what with their battle armor on all the time) though it definately sounded scared as it said, "HUMAN! WHAT DO YOU KNOW OF THE DOCTOR! HOW DO YOU KNOW HIM! EXPLAIN!"

"Tut tut!" April said(she was really enjoying herself now). "I'll tell you if you say please and tell me something in return."

"DALEKS DO NOT MAKE DEALS WITH HUMANS! EXPLAIN OR BE EXTERMINATED!" The Dalek turned its plunger thing(April really didn't know what their real purpose was, though she had seen them physically suck the knowledge out of a man on TV) and egg beater gun on her.

"Well now pepperpot, you could exterminate me, but then you wouldn't know where the Doctor was now, would you?"

The Dalek seemed immensly frustrated. "VERY WELL HUMAN! WHAT INFORMATION DO YOU REQUEST?!"

April walked forwards(she was either really an idiot or really brave, she hadn't decided yet), almost right up to the Dalek. "Well, pepperpot, how did you get here?"

"THROUGH THE PORTAL! NOW TELL ME WHERE THE DOCTOR IS!"

"And where is this portal?"

"I DO NOT KNOW! IT JUST APPEARED AND I WENT THROUGH! NOW WHERE IS THE DOCTOR!?"

"No, you stupid saltshaker! I meant in this building!"

The Dalek turned its eye stalk around almost one hundred eighty degrees. "IT IS RIGHT THERE! YOU CAN SEE IT!" The Dalek turned its eye stalk back on April. "NOW WHERE IS THE DOCTOR!?"

April cast a quick look up at the portal. Sure enough, right where the Dalek pointed(looked with its eye thingy) was a slightly wavy patch of air. An idea formed in April's mind(ridiculuosly reckless but possible). She turned back to the Dalek. "Say please."

"DALEKS DO NOT BEG! WHERE IS THE DOCTOR?!"

"Oh that's a shame. Honestly I can't tell you without you saying please. It's a telepathic block someone put on me. I know where he is, but I don't really know until someone says please."

The Dalek wa facing extreme internal struggle. Its plunger arm and ray gun(thing) were waving helplessly. It finally decided. "PLEASE!" it said.

April beamed. "Right through that portal," she said. "I saw him run through it when you weren't looking."

"LIES! YOU ARE LYING! EXTERMINATE!"

April reacted in a split second. She ran forward and tackled the Dalek(or more pushed it) into the portal, giving it a hearty shove to make sure it went through.

"April!"

April looked over to see the Doctor looking at her from behind the table. She smiled and waved. "It's all right now, Doc! Sent tha thing packing!"

The Doctor stood and walked over to herincredibly quickly. He immediately took her face in his hands and looked her over. "Are you alright? Did it shoot you? No, of course it didn't, otherwise you would be dead. That was a really stupid thing to do."

April shook off his hands. "Doc, I'm fine. I swear. And it worked! Sorta. Well, Dalek's gone!" She raised her shoulders in a shrug.

The Doctor bit his lip, his hands squirming in front of him as though he was restraining the urge to continue fussing. "It was rather clever of you. I probably wouldn't have done it—"

"Probably because the thing would have shot you on sight. Oncoming storm and all," April interrupted.

"Good point," the Doctor said, and he grinned.

"Yes, that was pretty ingenius and selfless of you, April."

April turned around and saw Phil standing as usual, straight and with his hands behind his back.

"Wait a moment," the Dcotr said, stepping slightly in front of April. "Does this mean that you brought in that Dalek to test her and see whather she really ws with that one group of people?"

April winced. She could recognize that tone of voice. That was the one the Doctor used when he was either very, very angry or about to be.

Phil didn't seem to notice. "No, I would not put my staff in danger like that. I simply took advantage of a negative situation to see whether April was April's double or not."

"And if she had died?"

The Doctor had his angry face on too(head tilted slightly to the side, made him look really adorable).

Phil still didn't sense the danger. "If April would have died, then she would have died doing us a great sevice. Now we know she isn't affiliated with Rising Tide, you both are free to go. Everything you both came with is waiting outside your ship. I can take you there right now."

"Now wait just a moment," the Doctor said, taking a step towards Phil. "You judged whether or not April was in this 'Rising Tide'"(air quotes)"by the fact that she risked her life?"

Phil nodded. "She could have tried to get you and escape, or simply leave you here, but she didn't."

"You couldn't just take my word that she wasn't with them? UNIT and Torchwood gave me their approval, and since I gave you April's, that should have been enough!"

Phil shook his head. "I'm sorry, but protocal dictates that the approval of an extraterrestrial life form on a human is not to be taken into account."

April tugged on the Doctor's sleeve. "Look, Doc, it's okay, I didn't die. We really don't need to get into this."

The Doctor turned around and looked April straight in the eye(he had to bend over a little since April was so short). "No, it absolutely is not! You might have died, and _they_ " (he pointed at Phil)"wouldn't have cared!"

"Hey, Doc, it's okay. Just calm down." April held out her hands. "I'm right here. I knew what I was doing"(for the most part)"and I didn't die."

The Doctor turned away a little and ran a hand over his mouth. He looked back at April. "I just don't want to lose anyone else," he said, quietly, so only April could here.

April took a step forward and wrapped the Doctor in a hug. "Hey, Doc, pretty sure I'm not going anywhere for a while."

The Doctor stood there for a moment before wrapping his arms around April(she got the tinglies). "I believe it," he whispered.

~~

"I feel pretty confidet saying that I now hate government agencies," April said, sitting on the railing of the TARDIS(thank God SHIELD gave her her jacket back).

The Doctor was fiddling with the buttons again, but they weren't going anywhere.

"Hey, Doc?"

The Doctor looked up. "Yes?"

"We going somewhere?"

"In a minute," the Doctor said, turning back to his dials. He looked up at a monitor and let out an incoherent mumble. "Right now, though, I'm trying to find out why that portal opened up."

April shrugged. "We were in the middle of SHIELD headquarters. Maybe they pushed the wrong button on something they scooped up."

"Nonono, that's not it. It's been happening all over, and not just on Earth."

"How do you know?"

A stack of papers flew into her face. She picke them up and saw that it was a newspaper,  _The Intergalactic Times_. "Do they really have an intergalactic newspaper?" April asked, looking up.

"Yes they do," the Doctor replied, still messing about with his buttons, "and they had an article in there about portals opening up between times and planets."

April looked at the newspaper again and saw that on page three,  _Time and Space Being Portalized_. She flipped to the page and saw a small article about a few portals opening up on distant planets connecting differen time periods or galaxies. She looked up. "What do you think it means?"

The Doctor stopped messing about with his switches. "I have absolutely no idea, so I think we need to find one and play with it for a bit!"

April just stared. "We need to what?"

The Doctor's face erupted into a grin and he started bouncing on his toes(a little like April when she used to talk to her friends about  _Doctor Who_ or  _Sherlock_ ). "We need to play with a portal!"

April sighed. This is another one of those ideas you have that probably end with us being chased by space monkeys or you getting a couple thousand credits in parking tickets, isn't it?"

"Maybe," the Doctor said, but he was smiling with excitement and not hung up on how rude SHIELD agents had been with regards to her personal safety, and April wanted to keep it that way.

"Fine," she said, hopping down from the railing. "But how do you intend to find these portals?"

"I have my ways," the Doctor said mischeviously. He grabbed up the fez from where April put it down on the consol and popped it on his head(he was so adorable with that fez!). He then stood next to a large lever and put a hand on it. "April, you may want to hang onto something," he said.

April's stomach gave a lurch and she dived for the handrails, just grabbing hold as the Doctor pulled the lever, at the same time shouting, "GERONIMO!!!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is a good deal longer, and a little more like a proper Doctor Who adventure. I even threw in a Dalek! Though I'm getting the sense that I might end my adventure soon :(. But there's only so long I can make it without getting boring!  
> Anyways, you guys catch what April said to the Doctor to calm him down? Remember when that was last said? I am such a genius sometimes! Please let me know what you think, and what other worlds I could incorporate!


	6. It Hurts to be Thrown Out of The TARDIS into a Tree

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Okay, maybe not so fine!” she yelled, swinging dangerously, her hair actually falling out the door. The site of the Vortex swirling just beyond her head wasn’t helping the situation.
> 
> “Just hang in there April! I think we’re about to land!” she could hear the Doctor shout.
> 
> Unfortunately for her, her foot chose that moment to slip, and she went flying out of the TARDIS.
> 
> Fortunately, the TARDIS had just landed inside what looked like some strange woods.
> 
> Unfortunately, she went head first into a tree.
> 
> This was not looking like a good day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a different chapter. Unintentional similarities to season 5.

April was starting to get slightly annoyed. She had been expecting to find a portal pretty quick(the Doctor had seemed pretty confident he could find one almost immediately), but it had been about two weeks(as far as she could tell given the time travel thing)  and they had yet to even see a hint of even a possibility of a portal.

"Doc, this is the fifth planet we've been to today alone," April grumbled. "Can’t we take a break?"

The Doctor was looking through something reminded her of those things she had as a kid that's you looked through and saw the different pictures. "Not now April. I'm trying to figure something out." He looked up from his binoculars and walked towards the back of the TARDIS. "Wait there a moment, please."

April sighed and stretched out on the bench that was, in theory, supposed to keep her from going flying during takeoff(it didn't work very well, April had gone flying the first few times she'd tried to use it). Can't really go anywhere, now, can I?"

Typically, the Doctor ignored her. He walked into the back rooms and stayed there doing who knows what for at least ten minutes. When he came back, he just patted one of his pockets and turned to April.

"What's the date on your phone?"

"My what?" April asked, sitting up.

"You heard me, your phone. What's the date?" He waved his hands around impatiently.

April shrugged and checked the date. "April 22."

"Excellent!  This will work then." The Doctor swept back to the binocular thing and looked through again. "I have a bit of a birthday present for you."

"Doc, my birthday isn't until tomorrow," April said, moving from the bench to the railing. "And I didn't even know you knew when my birthday was."

"Nonsense!" The Doctor swept out from behind the binoculars with a pompous twirl. "You told me your birthday just the other day. I asked just for this reason, actually. I had a present in mind but the only excuses I could think of for giving it to you were your birthday and Christmas, but all my Christmases are a little bit chaotic, so a birthday seems a million times better."

April was more than a little surprised. Birthdays weren't really her thing, so she managed to find excuses to not tell her friends when hers was. "I don't remember you asking me that."

"Well, I did, so you're getting a birthday surprise right about"(he flipped a lever)"now."

Of course, right then, the TARDIS ran into a portal in the Time Vortex, and everything went haywire. The TARDIS began to shake violently, alarms started sounding like crazy, and the doors flung open, sucking pretty much everything that wasn't attached to the TARDIS into the vortex, including April.

"April, hang onto something!” the Doctor shouted.

“Kinda hard to do right now!” April shouted back. She was hanging from  the railing perilously close to the doors by her leg. She had reacted to the doors opening fast and managed to wrap her leg around the railing before she was pulled into oblivion.

“Well, just hang on! I’m coming!” the Doctor shouted.

“No, Doc, just stay where you are! I’m okay!” Her life depended on her leg staying around the railing, but she was fine.

Until a jacket came flying out from the back rooms of the TARDIS and smacked her in the face. Her leg slipped from the railing and she slid a few feet closer to the door, jarring to a halt when her foot caught a corner of the railing.

“Okay, maybe not so fine!” she yelled, swinging dangerously, her hair actually falling out the door. The site of the Vortex swirling just beyond her head wasn’t helping the situation.

“Just hang in there April! I think we’re about to land!” she could hear the Doctor shout.

Unfortunately for her, her foot chose that moment to slip, and she went flying out of the TARDIS.

Fortunately, the TARDIS had just landed inside what looked like some strange woods.

Unfortunately, she went head first into a tree.

This was not looking like a good day.

“April!” the Doctor shouted, practically flying out of the TARDIS himself.

“Ow, right here, Doc,” April said, sitting up and rubbing her head. “Think I’m gonna have a lump the size of the moon on my head, but I’m fine.” She took the Doctor’s hand up and wobbled for a second, trying to regain her balance(it’s pretty disorienting, getting pulled out of the TARDIS and then thrown into a tree). The double vision wasn’t helping.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” the Doctor asked, grabbing April’s face and examining it from all angles. He looked immensely worried. “I was worried you fell out before the TARDIS landed.”

April waved him off. “Come on, Dad, stop fussing.” She stood for a minute, trying to make the two Doctors in front of her back into one. “Just need a sec." A thought occured to her. "What would have happened if we hadn't landed?"

The Doctor bit his lip (she thought) and looked nervous about answering. Or was it something else?

"Hey, Doc? You okay?" she asked. He still wasn't answering. "Doc?"

"You would have been flung into the Time Vortex and either dropped in a random time and place or ripped apart."

April just stared in shock. Suddenly the annoying bump the TARDIS passed through and the comic thought of her dangling by her foot with the Vortex a mere foot away was terrifying. There was a very good chance she could have died.

She couldn't let him know how scared that idea made her, so she just cracked a grin and said, "Well then, I shall be infinitely grateful that my skull just almost split open on that tree."

It looked like it worked. The Doctor stopped fussing and looking nervous, at least. "Alright, then! It appears that a rather strange thing has happened. A—"

April held up a hand. "Lemme guess. A portal opened up in the Time Vortex and took us between the Vortexes of two different universes, thus the incredibly bumpy ride and the TARDIS panic attack."

The Doctor just stood there. April couldn't help but giggle. "Did I just rob you of some very exuberant and highly detailed scientific description?" she asked.

His silence was answer enough.

April just shrugged and leaned back against the tree that almost split her head in two(though she missed at first, her vision wasn't entirely back to normal). "Let's hear it then."

The Doctor adopted a slightly grumpy loom. "Well, there's really no point in it now. You've gone and said everything, just less sciencey."

April just laughed and shook her head(which hurt). "Alright, whatever." She looked around(which hurt) and could see absolutely nothing but trees. "Do you have any idea where we are?"

"Well Miss Smartypants, seeing as we jumped universes, no I do not."

April looked around(not that it helped, her vision was still wonky). She picked a direction at random. "Okay, let's just go that way and see what we can see."

"Excellent plan," the Doctor said,  already turning in the direction she was looking. "There's usually something whichever way you go. You humans just love to put things everywhere, don't you?"

April gave a perilous wobble when she tried to get off the tree and kept one hand on the tree for support. "Hey, Doc?" she called. "Mind giving me a hand here?" The Doctor turned around and saw April stranded on her tree. "Head's still a little wonky," she said with a crooked smile, something that quickly turned into a wince as her head gave a particularly painful throb.

"Oh! Oh, sorry," he said, dashing back towards her. "Best make sure you don't have a concussion, then."

"Doc, I have double vision and my head hurts like the Dickens. I'm pretty sure I have a concussion."

"Oh dear," the Doctor said. "Alright, let's go find a cabin or something to put you in until you can see properly."

~~

Ichabod had decided to take the day off. Granted, the apocalypse didn't take a day off, but so far no more apocalyptic signs had sprung up, or any witches. He and Miss Mills had done plenty of research recently, and she had told him to go ahead and “put his feet up,” an idiomatic expression that meant spending the day doing what he wanted instead of research or hunting the Horseman.

He had decided to try and fix the "coffee maker." The fact that in the course of a couple centuries, the human race had managed to create machines that turned what had been everyday or lengthy chores into a simple click of the button or a simple process that merely took an hour still fascinated him, and the, "coffee maker" was no exception. Unfortunately, instead of making him coffee that was nice and hot, the coffee maker spouted out boiling water and ground coffee dust.

Ichabod currently had the bottom of the machine opened and was experimenting to how different wires contributed to the correct production of the coffee. He had to admit, there wasn’t much “fixing” going on; he was mostly just playing with the wires and watching the coffee maker shoot water wildly around.

A ringing sound burst out from his pocket, and Ichabod jumped wildly, dropping the coffee maker, where it cracked into two pieces. Ichabod furiously began smacking himself all over to try and find the source of the noise. It took him a few moments to remember the “cell phone” Miss Mills had given him to contact him quickly when they were separated. It was another object of his fascination(the fact that people had found a way to communicate long-distance without the requirement of pigeons! And texting!), but he thought Miss Mills might be slightly angry with him for tinkering with his “cell phone”, so he largely left it alone.

After finding and extracting his cell phone from his pocket, he looked at the front and saw a picture of Miss Mills and her name on the screen. He stared at it in puzzlement until he remembered how to answer this phone. He slid his finger across the screen on the green line.

"Hello, Miss Mills. Is there something wrong?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry Crane, but I need your help. Something... weird... happened in town, and I think you might have a better idea of what it could be than me."

Ichabod nodded before he remembered that Miss Mills couldn't see him. "Don't worry, Miss Mills. I'm not doing anything of great importance. I am available to help you."

"Okay, that's great. I'll be there in about half an hour."

"Alright, Miss Mills. I shall wait here for you."

"Thanks, Crane."

Ichabod took the phone away from his ear and looked at it. He knew how to answer the cell phone, but not how to shut one off. He gave a guess and hit the red portion of the screen, relieved when the screen changed to "normal".

So, a strange incident in town that Miss Mills knows almost nothing about. Ichabod puzzled over this as he got out the broom to sweep up the broken shards of glass from the coffee maker(as fascinating as "technology" was, it was nice to know that some things weren't likely to change in his lifetime). Miss Mills knew quite a lot about the apocalypse, so something she knew absolutely  nothing about was an incident worth investigating.

Ichabod finished sweeping up the glass, and just as he was about to put in into the trash bin, there was a knock on the door. Under normal circumstances(such as when he lived with Katrina before leaving for war), Ichabod would have merely opened the door. Given the circumstances, though, Ichabod thought he ought to be cautious. His cabin was in the middle of the woods, after all, and almost nobody had reason to come this deep into the forest. Ichabod reached for his gun(people made guns so much smaller, and with more than one bullet at a time!) and walked towards the door.

~~

“Jeez, how far is it to humanity?” April said, hand hanging onto the Doctor’s sleeve(how freaking long is her stupid double vision going to last?!). “I mean, we’re only in the middle of a forest.” And maybe on an alien planet, but who really notices these things.

“Don’t worry, April, nice-looking cabin right here. “Maybe the owners will let you stay here for a bit until there’s only one of me that you can see.”

April looked around, but, most likely owing to the fact that there were trees everywhere(at least to her and her new grudge against trees), the cabin was still hidden to her.

Then she walked into the porch.(fortunately, just her gut took the impact)

“Thanks for the lookout, Doc,” April said angrily, rubbing her now-sore stomach. “Thought you were supposed to be keeping an eye out for this stuff.

“Sorry,” the Doctor said. “I thought you knew it was there.” He gently pulled her towards the porch. “Got a couple stairs here, so be careful going up.”

April nodded and made a vain attempt to see where she was going. She ended up just standing pretty much where she came up the stairs.

“I’ll knock then, shall I?” the Doctor asked. He rapped smartly on the door four times.

Nobody answered for a minute. “Maybe nobody’s home,” April suggested.

“Just give them a minute,” the Doctor said. After a minute, though, he knocked again and called out, “Hello? Anybody there? We could use some help. A tree branch fell on my friend’s head and I’m afraid she’s got a concussion!”

April saw through the window(after finally being able to spot the cabin, though the woody-looking curtains didn’t help her spot the window) what looked like a man with really long hair peeking through the curtains. April gave a tentative smile and wave, which resulted in a particularly painful throb of her head(April had a very large grudge against that stupid tree). SHe winced, figuring it would help this apparently cautious guy know she wasn’t faking the concussion.

After a moment, the Doctor noticed the man peeking out from behind the curtains and he waved too. “Hello, there! We’d just like to pop in for a bit, if that’s all right?”

The face in the curtains disappeared, and a moment later, the door opened. “Has Moloch sent you?” he asked first thing.

April thought she might not be the only one that got hit in the head recently.

“Um, I’m sorry?” the Doctor said, doing his best to look happy and confused at the same time.

The man just shook his head and opened the door even more, doing something weird with his head. The Doctor picked up her arm gently and began to walk her inside. At the man’s curious glance(April was just guessing what his face showed, since there were two of them, and both were pretty blurry), the Doctor just shrugged and said, “Her vision’s gone a bit funny.” The man nodded.

“You can sit her down on the couch over there while I get some ice from the icebox,” the man said, closing the door behind them. The Doctor led her over to a couch and April sat down slowly, trying not to jar her head too much(it still hurt like the Dickens).

“Are you feeling alright?” the Doctor asked, probably noticing her wince when she looked at her surroundings. She just shrugged.(which hurt)

“‘Bout as good as you can expect considering a tree just fell on me, pretty much,” April said.

The man walked back in and held an ice pack to her head. April’s hand came up and took it from him, adjusting it so that it covered where her head had hit the tree.

“I don’t think I caught either of your names,” the man said. “I’m Ichabod.”

“Well, I’m the Doctor, and this lovely young lady here”(April blushed a bit)”is April. WE were just walking, you know, enjoying the lovely scenery, when a tree branch fell on her head!” the Doctor said. He had sat down on the couch next to April(was he being protective?).

“We got kinda lost, though, and I’m not really sure where we are. What’s the nearest town?” April asked, playing the concussion for all it was worth to find out what universe they were in.

Ichabod sounded slightly suspicious when he answered. “The closest town is Sleepy Hollow, New York.” He came very close to April, and she leaned back a little. She had a bit of a personal space issue with strangers, though from the blurred glimpses she got of Ichabod’s face(her visions was finally starting to get a little fixed, though not by much), he seemed a bit familiar. “How big was the branch that hit you?”

“It was pretty big,” the Doctor said, holding out his arms. “About that long.” he made a circle with his hands. “”And about that big around.”

Ichabod nodded, and sat in a chair. “Alright, then, it would probably be a good idea for her to go to the hospital then. I’m sorry to say I don’t have a car, but my friend is going to be here in about ten minutes to take me to town. She can probably take you both to the hospital as well on our way to lunch.”

April nodded(which hurt) and stood up a little shakily. “You got a bathroom?” she asked, turning towards Ichabod. She knew exactly which universe they were in now, and was eager to get out before the sun went down.

“Down that hall and first door on the left, Ichabod Crane said, standing up. “Can you make it down all right?”

April nodded again(which hurt worse). “I think I’ll be okay. I just hit my head, not my leg.” And she set off down the hall with a smile.

She bumped into a shelf on her way to the bathroom, and a small silver key fell off. April bent and picked it up. From what she could see, it went to an old fashioned door. APril shrugged and put the key in her pocket before going to the bathroom and cleaning up.

She walked back into the living room a few minutes later. “Hey, Ichabod, what time did you say your—”

“Oh my God!” she heard Ichabod say. Her gaze snapped up and saw him and the Doctor staring in her direction in what looked to be apparent fear. She whipped around(which hurt A LOT, her head was not going to feel better any time soon at this rate) but didn’t see anything.

“April!” the Doctor shouted. “Stay in the bathroom for a bit!”

“Doc, I’m right here!” April yelled. Crane and the Doctor flinched back, and April saw Crane pull out a gun. “WHat the heck are you guys so scared of?” she demanded.

That was about when Ichabod leveled the gun at her and pulled the trigger.

April ducked not a second too soon(man, April had about a million experiences today where she had almost died) behind the couch. “Ichabod, what the hell was that for?’ she asked, peeking back over the couch. Ichabod responded by firing again.

“Don’t shoot it!” the Doctor yelled, yanking the gun’s point up towards the ceiling.

Wait a second. It?

April peeked in a mirror located on the other end of the hall and absolutely screamed.

She did not look like herself at all. She was big, and yellow, and had quite a few tentacles, as well as a large mouth full of large, pointy teeth. Honestly, she couldn’t blame Ichabod for shooting at her, not is she looked like this. But when April held her hands up in front of her face, she saw she still had fingers, though her reflection raised four wriggly tentacles.

Suddenly April knew what happened, and she had to get out of here, fast, before Crane shot her without knowing who she was.

She took advantage of the fact that the Doctor was still wrestling for Ichabod’s gun and barreled straight towards them(both of them leapt out of the way at the sight of the giant yellow monster charging straight towards them), vaulting the couch and bursting out straight through the window directly behind them.

Of course, one of the first things she did was run headfirst into a tree. But she quickly picked herself up off her feet and ran into the forest, passing a car on her way. A car that immediately pulled over. April just kept on running.

~~

“What in the world was that?” Ichabod asked, picking himself up off the floor. The Doctor was staring after the alien that had just walked out of the cabin’s hallway. It had ran straight past them, out the window, and run into a tree, where it fell over, but got back up and kept running. Aliens didn’t do that, but that meant that that thing had been—

“Crane, what the hell did I pass coming up here?” a young woman asked, standing at the broken window. “I come down here to show you something in town and find a giant monster crashing out of your window.” She saw the Doctor finally. “And who the hell is this?”

The Doctor shook his head. “Excuse me, you two.” He looked at Ichabod. “It was very nice to meet you, Ichabod. But that was April, and I need to go chase her down before she eats somebody.” And with that, he popped out the window and ran into the forest after April.

~~

April paused, leaning on her knees and breathing heavily. She lost count of the number of trees she crashed into(her vision was almost back to normal now, but a tree would still sometimes blend in well enough with the ground for her to run smack into it), and her head felt like it had been cleaved in two with a blunt axe, she was covered in at least a few dozen cuts that were still bleeding(because of the freaking window and all those trees), but at least no one was screaming in panic at the sight of her or trying to shoot her.

She straightened up, putting her hands on her back as she struggled to pull air into her aching lungs. It was getting dark. Fudge. She forgot how early it got dark up north. And how cold. She shivered, pulling the tattered remains of her jacket tighter around her.

April sat down at the base of a tree and felt something poke her butt. She was about to reach for it, not remembering what it was, when suddenly, two and two clicked together. But it wasn’t possible. No way. They were in the wrong universe.

April’s hands shook as she pulled her jacket sleeve over her fingers and pulled out the key from her pocket. Sure enough, it matched the one she was thinking of. H. P. Lovecraft’s key, which was definitely not supposed to be here, not in Sleepy Hollow. The stupid thing could influence the way people saw you to make you seem like a monster fresh out of a Lovecraft story(which is one of the few horror authors she’s heard of that she hasn’t read).

If this really was Lovecraft’s key, though, how in all the universes had it gone from the Warehouse to Sleepy Hollow? Unless... unless there was a small hole joining the two universes, and that was badbadbad.

As bad as the hole was, April’s priority was getting one of the Warehouse’s snag bags so she could neutralize this thing and stop looking like some strange alien. But there’s no way she can drive the TARDIS and land it in another universe with enough accuracy to land in the Warehouse on her first attempt. That and she wasn’t sure she’d be able to make it back and collect the Doctor.

All in all, not a very good scenario.

“April!” someone shouted, and April froze. Either this meant the Doctor realized she wasn’t in the bathroom and was looking for her, or he figured out the giant yellow alien was actually the human he travelled around with. Neither situation made April comfortable enough to want to show herself, but he was the only one that could drive the TARDIS well enough to get them back to the Warehouse.

April slowly stood up and looked around. No sign of the Doctor, but a bullet hit the tree she was hiding behind. Which meant the Doctor hadn’t been the one to call her, and Ichabod found her and most likely thought she was some strange demonic shapeshifter. Not a good situation. APril ducked back behind the tree. Of course, her phone buzzed then with her birthday alarm(she used to always take herself for coffee at one a.m. on her birthday and must have forgotten to turn off her alarm). This was definitely not a birthday very high up on her list.

“April, just come out peacefully,” Ichabod called out. April inched a little away from his voice, pocketing the key before she forgot about it and accidentally touched it. “Not very likely to happen since you just shot at me,” she called out.

“That wasn’t me,” Ichabod said. “That was Miss Mills, and she tends to be a little... trigger happy, I think the common phrase is.”

April just stayed behind her tree, but that wasn’t likely to stay a safe place for very long. She was guessing at this very second, Abbie Mills and Crane had split up and were slowly circling to opposite sides of the tree and would then either shoot(which she didn’t want, she liked being alive a little bit too much to want to take a bullet) or knock her out with a blow to the head, which she really didn’t want, (her head hurt enough already without them smacking it around more). Her only shot was to make for another tree silently and hope the darkness and her fortunately dark clothes would hide her progress.

Or watch as the Doctor swept out from behind another tree, grabbed her hand, and whispered, “Run,” an order she was only too happy to comply to.

~~

“I never, ever, ever want to do that again,” April said, one hand on her head, the other on her knee, doubled over in the TARDIS. SHe and the Doctor had just sprinted back to the TARDIS, dodging bullets and trees before finally ducking inside and locking the doors.

“Agreed,” the Doctor said, standing up and going to the control panel. “It wasn’t very nice seeing you as an inhabitant of the planet Zod.”

“A what?” April asked, standing up very slowly(was her head ever going to stop hurting this much?).

“An alien coming from the planet Zod,” the Doctor repeated, pushing buttons on the control panel to get them out of Sleepy Hollow. “Though I am very happy you are human again,” he added.

April shook her head. “I didn’t turn into anything. The way everybody saw me changed,” she clarified, covering her hand with her sleeve before pulling out Lovecraft’s key. “That’s what this thing does, and I accidentally touched it in Ichabod’s hallway. I thought it fell off one of his shelves.” She shook her head. “What’s really scary, though, is this shouldn’t exist in this universe.”

The Doctor looked up sharply and walked over to look at the key. April pulled it away quickly. “Don’t touch it,” she said. “I don’t want you to look like some weird mutated squid thing for the next couple of hours.”

The Doctor waved her off and continued to look at the key. He pulled out his sonic and scanned the key. The results did not make him happy.

“Oh, this is not good, not good at all,” he said, putting away his sonic. “That—”

“Is from a different universe, I know,” April said quickly, putting the key back in her pocket. “It comes from the Warehouse, and I know for a fact that these two places don’t share a universe. Which means—”

“There’s a hole in the universes,” they said together.

“This is bad, oh this is bad, bad, bad!” the Doctor said, pacing. “It must have taken something powerful to create a hole strong enough to start pulling in object from other universes.”

April held up a hand. “Okay, we can talk about that later, for now, let’s just get the key back to the Warehouse,” she said.

The Doctor looked up. “That’s probably a good idea. Take care of the problem at hand, then figure out how to fix the universe.”

He flipped a switch, and April held onto the railing for dear life(which it might have been, for all she knew) as the TARDIS set off for the Warehouse.

~~

Claudia was alone in Artie’s office again when the alarms went off. She looked up at the security camera and was incredibly surprised to see the TARDIS in Aisle 214a. She scribbled a note saying she was going to check something out in case Artie came in and tried to give her a case and set off for the Aisle.

“What are you guys doing here again?” she demanded one April and the Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS.

April held up a key, and Claudia gasped. She snapped on a pair of purple gloves and took the key, quickly dropping it into one of the snag bags she always had on hand. “You took Lovecraft’s key?” she snapped glaring at April.

“No, April doesn’t steal things, especially not when she knows they’re dangerous!” the Doctor said, and Claudia barely spared him an annoyed glance.

“Okay, so if you didn’t steal this,” she said sarcastically, putting the bag in her back pocket, “then how the heck did it get out of the Warehouse? Did it just jump into a portal across the universes and land in front of you?”

April nodded. “Pretty much.”

Claudia blinked. That had not been what she was expecting to hear. She opened her mouth but couldn’t think of something to say.

April shook her head and held up her hands. “Doesn’t matter, it’s take too long to explain. ARe there any other artifacts that are missing?”

Claudia walked over to a nearby kiosk that she had set up and began typing furiously, trying to process what was going on. First, there had been alternate universes. Now, artifacts were apparently being pulled through wormholes into these other universes and were probably wreaking havoc. Especially since the screen showed there were three hundred twelve missing artifacts.

April peeked over Claudia’s shoulder. “That’s not good.”

The Doctor looked too. “No, I don’t think it is.”

~~

April sat on the railing again(probably not a good idea to do ever again, but she didn’t care at this moment. The situation was overwhelming. Three hundred twelve artifacts and counting missing, and who knows what other horrible things were being drawn into different universes.

The Doctor walked over and leaned against the railing. “This is probably a bad time, but it is still your birthday right now.”

April shrugged. “Big whoop, I’m twenty-four now.”

The Doctor spun to face her. “I still have a present for you.”

April shrugged. “I don’t do presents.”

“I think this is an exception,” the Doctor said, taking something out of his pocket and holding it out in front of her. April couldn’t help herself and looked up.

It was really simple, just a small silver key(looking absolutely nothing like Lovecraft’s fortunately) hanging on a string, but April knew what it was in a second. She just looked at it. “Is... is that...”

The Doctor nodded, a grin on his(adorable) face. “A key to the TARDIS? Yes, it is.”

April reached out and took it gingerly. She looked incredulously at the Doctor. “And it’s for me?” she asked. He nodded.

“I thought it was about time you got your own key.”

April didn’t know if he was about to say anything else. She leapt forward and wrapped him in a tight hug. She was a little embarrassed to feel tears, but she had never had such a special birthday present. The Doctor hesitated a second before wrapping his own arms around April.

“Thank you,” April whispered. She pulled back and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. “Really, thank you.” She smiled(and was convinced she saw the Doctor blush).

From the doorway, Claudia cleared her throat. “Okay, as adorable as that is, we have some artifact hunting to do, you know.”

April cheeks flamed. She stepped back from the Doctor to her customary seat on the railings, putting her new key around her neck. “Alright, then.” She looked at the Doctor, who had returned to the controls as if nothing strange had just happened. “Where to, first?”

The Doctor looked up with his little smile. “Let’s see, shall we?”

April looked at Claudia. “You might wanna hold onto something,” she suggested as the Doctor pulled a lever and sent the TARDIS spinning into the Vortex.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, there we are! Nice little birthday for April and Claudia tagging along! For my first fanfic, I'm certainly setting myself some challenges. This isn't the extent of the trouble caused by the holes in the universe though, nor is it the last artifact they will run into.


End file.
